Chapter 2 - THE TWO TICKETS AND THE WOMAN THEY PLANNED TO ERASE
The moment Logan placed those resort tickets on the jewelry counter, I understood that my husband wasn't trying to save our marriage.
He was trying to get me somewhere I couldn't easily leave.
“A whole weekend in Lake Geneva,” he said, smiling. “Just you and me. No work. No family obligations.”
Daisy squeezed my arm.
“That sounds wonderful, Nora. You two need some time together.”
I looked at her hand resting against my sleeve.
Less than an hour earlier, those same fingers had been touching my husband's face in a hospital hallway.
Now she was encouraging me to spend a romantic weekend with him.
“How thoughtful,” I said.
Logan's smile widened.
For years, that smile had been enough to make me forgive almost anything.
Not anymore.
He reached for my hand, but I pretended to examine the wedding bands displayed between us.
Daisy had designed them herself.
Two simple platinum rings with tiny blue stones set inside the bands.
I'd chosen blue because it was the color of the lake where Logan had first told me he wanted to marry me.
I had believed that memory belonged to us.
Now I wondered whether anything in our marriage had ever been mine alone.
“Did you make the engraving exactly as I requested?” I asked Daisy.
She nodded.
“Of course.”
I picked up Logan's ring.
Inside were the words I'd selected three months earlier.
Always, by choice.
A bitter smile touched my lips.
“What about mine?”
Daisy hesitated.
Then she handed it over.
My ring carried the same inscription.
But beneath the engraving was a faint scratch.
Not the kind left by polishing.
It looked like something had been removed.
“Was this ring altered?” I asked.
Daisy's expression changed.
“Just a small adjustment to the setting.”
“Why?”
“The stone was loose.”
Logan interrupted.
“Nora, sweetheart, they're beautiful. Don't make Daisy feel bad.”
There it was.
Even when I was asking about something I'd paid for, his first instinct was to protect her.
I set down the ring.
“I'm not criticizing her. I'm asking a question.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Logan slipped an arm around my waist.
“Let's talk about the weekend.”
He opened a resort brochure.
A photograph showed a private lakeside villa, a fireplace, and a bedroom overlooking the water.
“We leave Friday,” he said. “I've already arranged everything.”
I studied the reservation.
The booking wasn't made under our names.
It was registered to Bennett Family Holdings.
“Why did you use the family company?”
“Accounting convenience.”
“You're putting our anniversary trip through corporate expenses?”
Logan laughed.
“Since when do you care about bookkeeping?”
Since I discovered my husband had been keeping an entirely separate life.
But I didn't say that.
Instead, I asked whether the resort had a medical clinic nearby.
His arm tightened around me.
“Are you feeling sick?”
“No. Just curious.”
Daisy looked at my stomach.
It was only a glance.
But something about it made my skin crawl.
“Have you been feeling different lately?” she asked casually.
“Different how?”
“Tired? Nauseous?”
Logan watched me closely.
I suddenly understood.
They weren't merely arranging a getaway.
They were trying to find out whether I was pregnant.
I forced a small laugh.
“I'm fine.”
Logan kissed my forehead.
“Good. I want everything to be perfect.”
I wanted to pull away.
Instead, I let him believe his performance was working.
When he stepped outside to take a business call, Daisy walked toward the back room.
“Let me get the final certificate for your rings.”
She left her tablet on the counter.
The screen lit up with a calendar reminder.
BENNETT FAMILY DINNER — FRIDAY, 7:00 P.M.
Underneath was a note.
Logan must tell Nora before Evelyn announces the foundation appointment.
I stared at those words.
Evelyn Bennett was Logan's mother.
A formidable woman who had never completely accepted me as her son's wife.
And the Bennett Foundation was the family's charitable organization, controlling scholarships, medical donations, and a substantial trust established by Logan's late grandfather.
Why would my pregnancy matter to a foundation appointment?
Before I could think further, Daisy returned.
I stepped away from the tablet.
“Is everything all right?” she asked.
“Perfect.”
She handed me an envelope containing the jewelry certificates.
As I placed it in my purse, a photograph slipped from the stack.
A younger Daisy stood beside a man near a college football stadium.
His face was partly turned away.
But I recognized the dark wool coat.
More importantly, I recognized the silver watch on his wrist.
It was Logan's grandfather's watch.
The one Logan had supposedly received when we became engaged.
My heart began pounding.
“Where did this come from?”
Daisy snatched the photograph.
“Old studio inspiration.”
“That's you.”
“From college.”
“Who's the man?”
She folded the photograph so quickly that one corner tore.
“Nobody important.”
I remembered her crying in my dormitory years ago.
She had said the man she loved was leaving her because his family considered her unsuitable.
I had held her through the night.
And several months later, when my parents introduced me to Logan Bennett, Daisy had been strangely quiet.
At the time, I thought she was struggling with another breakup.
Now I understood why she'd refused to attend our engagement dinner.
“Daisy,” I asked softly, “did you know Logan before I married him?”
She looked straight into my eyes.
“No.”
She said it without hesitation.
That frightened me more than an awkward denial would have.
Because I'd just seen proof that she was lying.
Logan returned carrying three coffees.
He handed one to Daisy without asking what she wanted.
Her favorite order.
Extra milk, no sugar.
For ten years, I had been reminding my husband that I hated coffee after noon.
He handed me a large black coffee.
“Just how you like it.”
I almost smiled.
“Thank you.”
Then I picked up the resort tickets.
“Actually, Logan, I can't go Friday.”
His expression hardened.
“Why not?”
“Your mother's family dinner.”
“That's been postponed.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Daisy stared at the floor.
I studied my husband.
“You should tell Evelyn. She sent me a reminder yesterday.”
Something passed between them.
A brief exchange of alarm.
Logan recovered first.
“Then we'll attend dinner before leaving.”
“Wonderful,” I said.
For the first time, I saw fear behind his smile.
Twenty minutes later, I left the studio.
I drove two blocks before pulling into an empty parking lot.
My attorney, Rachel Morgan, answered immediately.
“I need you to check something,” I said. “Bennett Family Holdings. The foundation. And any financial arrangements tied to our marriage.”
“Nora, what's happened?”
I looked at my ultrasound photograph.
Then at the wedding band lying in its velvet box.
“I think they're planning something bigger than an affair.”
Rachel was quiet.
“Don't sign anything Logan gives you.”
“I won't.”
“And Nora?”
“Yes?”
“Your husband contacted my office yesterday asking for a recommendation for a family-law attorney.”
My blood went cold.
“Yesterday?”
“Yes. Before you called me.”
I stared through the windshield.
Logan had been preparing for the end of our marriage before I even knew it was ending.
“Why?” I whispered.
Rachel hesitated.
“He specifically asked whether a wife could be declared legally incapable of making financial decisions during a medically complicated pregnancy.”
I pressed my hand over my stomach.
May you like
The resort tickets lay beside me.
And suddenly, I understood why Logan wanted me alone by the lake.
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