"Maud, please don't misunderstand. There's nothing between me and Caspar. He's sick, that's all. He thinks I'm you. Don't blame him. If you need to blame someone, blame me. It's all my fault..."
Every word was designed to twist the knife, yet she delivered them with the perfect quiver of a victim.
And Caspar fell for it. He raised his arm and shoved me. Hard.
"Get out!"
The venom in his voice, the cruelty in his eyes. I had never seen him look at me like that. Not once in five years.
I hit the floor. From where I lay, I watched them. The two of them, still holding each other. One was the husband I loved down to my marrow. The other was the best friend I'd given my whole heart to.
Together, they had just delivered the killing blow.
I couldn't even speak.
I left the room. Walked out into the street in a daze, barely registering the world around me. A car swerved past, missing me by inches.
"What the hell! Are you out of your mind?"
"Watch where you're going!"
The driver's curse snapped me back. Cold sweat crawled down my spine.
Two years.
Two full years I'd devoted to a man who couldn't recognize my face. Two years clinging to the wreckage of a marriage that had already sunk.