After her miscarriage, Elise Emery became exactly the wife Colsen Locke had always wanted: she stopped asking where he had been, stopped crying when he chose another woman, and stopped expecting him to come when she needed him.
Chapter 2
The staircase was blocked by burning debris. Elise stumbled toward the bedroom window, coughing so violently that spots danced before her eyes. Three stories below, Colsen emerged into the courtyard carrying Snowy while Bella ran toward him.
Bella threw her arms around his neck.
Even from above, Elise could see Colsen comforting her.
She stopped waiting.
Elise climbed onto the window ledge.
Then she jumped.
The impact shattered the world into pain.
When she woke in the hospital, Colsen was beside her.
His shirt was wrinkled. Dark stubble covered his jaw, and his eyes were bloodshot.
“Elise.”
He reached for her hand.
She pulled away.
“I didn’t see you,” he said quickly. “The smoke was everywhere. I thought you were already outside.”
She said nothing.
“I saw Snowy and grabbed him.”
Still nothing.
His voice tightened. “Say something.”
Elise looked at him.
“I don’t expect you to save me.”
Colsen went still.
“I don’t expect you to choose me,” she continued. “I don’t expect you to love me. So there’s nothing to discuss.”
His phone rang.
Bella.
Colsen looked at the screen, then back at Elise.
He let it ring twice before answering.
Whatever Bella said caused him to sigh.
“I’ll come.”
He hung up.
“Elise, Bella is having some trouble after the fire. I need to—”
“Go.”
“I’ll come back.”
“You don’t have to.”
His jaw tightened. “You’re angry.”
“No.”
“You keep pretending you don’t care.”
Elise closed her eyes.
That frightened him more than anger would have.
Before leaving, Colsen paused beside the bed. “Your mother’s death anniversary is Friday. I’ll go to the cemetery with you.”
Elise opened her eyes again.
Friday was also Bella’s birthday.
Every year of their marriage, Colsen had claimed to have business elsewhere on that date. Elise eventually learned the truth: he had been flying overseas to leave birthday gifts outside Bella’s apartment.
“Are you sure?” Elise asked.
“Yes.”
She almost pitied him.
He still thought one good deed could repair years of absence.
That Friday, Colsen took Elise to her mother’s grave for the first time.
Standing before the stone, he promised quietly, “I’ll take care of her now.”
Elise looked at her mother’s photograph.
Too late, Mom, she thought.
Afterward, Colsen took her to the French restaurant she had begged him to try years earlier. He had reserved the best table and ordered flowers.
Halfway through dinner, his phone rang.
Bella’s furious voice carried across the table.
“You planned this whole birthday party, and you’re not even here?”
Elise continued cutting her steak.
Colsen lowered his voice. “I’m busy.”
“With her?”
“Bella.”
“If you don’t come, I’m leaving.”
Colsen hung up and looked at Elise.
“Go,” she said.
His expression hardened. “Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like none of this matters.”
Elise set down her fork.
“It doesn’t.”
Twenty minutes later, they entered the ballroom where Bella’s birthday celebration was already underway.
Bella wore red.
When she saw Colsen, she ran to him and demanded a dance.
Colsen looked toward Elise.
“Go ahead,” Elise said. “I’m getting dessert.”
He went.
Yet throughout the dance, his eyes kept searching for his wife.
Bella noticed.
Annoyed, she abandoned him for Owen Pierce, an old college friend who had always wanted her.
Owen kissed Bella’s cheek.
The wineglass in Colsen’s hand cracked.
He marched across the ballroom, seized Bella’s wrist, and pulled her onto a balcony.
From beside the dessert table, Elise watched through a gap in the curtains.
Colsen demanded to know why Bella was flirting with another man.
Bella laughed at him.
“You’re somebody else’s husband. What exactly gives you the right to be jealous?”
Something broke in him.
He kissed her.
Hard.
Bella wrapped her arms around his neck.
Elise watched the man who had promised at her mother’s grave to take care of her kissing the woman he had chosen over her miscarriage.
And she felt almost nothing.
When they finally separated, Colsen looked horrified.
“I thought you were Elise.”
Bella laughed bitterly. “You’ve never kissed Elise like that.”
She begged him to divorce his wife and come back to her.
Colsen’s answer surprised them both.
“No.”
Bella stared at him.
“I’m not divorcing Elise.”
“Why?”
He had no answer.
Bella rushed toward the balcony railing, threatening to jump.
Before Colsen could reach her, a decorative light fixture overhead tore loose.
He lunged instinctively.
The fixture crashed down.
Colsen shielded Bella with his body and took several deep cuts across his back.
Guests screamed.
Someone called an ambulance.
Elise quietly picked up her purse and went home.
She did not visit him at the hospital.
The next night, the household manager called.
“Mrs. Locke, Mr. Locke’s stomach condition is acting up. He’s asking for you. You always knew how to help.”
Outside, rain hammered against Elise’s windows.
“I’m not coming.”
The manager sounded stunned.
“But, ma’am—”
“I’m going to sleep. Good night.”
She hung up.
The next afternoon, Colsen returned home.
He found Elise reading.
“Tony called you last night.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t come.”
“No.”
His voice turned rough. “You used to drive across the city if I said I had a headache.”
Elise turned a page.
“That was before.”
Their anniversary arrived several days later.
Colsen organized the kind of celebration Elise had once dreamed about. He filled a hotel ballroom with flowers, bought her diamonds, hired musicians, and invited everyone important to their families.
Guests whispered about how lucky Elise was.
She smiled politely.
On the balcony, Bella cornered her.
“He kissed me at my birthday,” Bella said. “He still loves me.”
Elise sighed.
“You know what, Bella? You’re exhausting.”
Bella’s face reddened.
“You spent years trying to prove Colsen chooses you. Congratulations. He does. Now go enjoy it.”
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No. I think I’m finished with both of you.”
Bella shoved her.
Elise went backward over the railing.
Instinctively, she caught Bella’s wrist.
Both women screamed.
Guests rushed outside.
Colsen reached them first.
Bella was hysterical.
“Save me!”
Elise hung silently over the edge, her grip the only thing keeping her from falling into the pool far below.
Colsen looked between them.
Then he grabbed Bella.
“Elise, hold on. I’ll get her up first, then I’ll pull you in.”
Elise looked into his face.
Five years.
Again and again, he had said the same thing without saying it.
Bella first.
Then you.
She smiled.
And let go.
