His Wi-Fi Exposed His Affair,

Chapter 1

A cup of room-temperature juice was pressed into my hands, and I registered distantly that it was my favorite: mangosteen juice.

"Your period's coming up soon, sweetie. Try not to have anything too cold, okay?" Elliot Hale said softly, his voice gentle in a way that used to make me feel completely at ease.

"Honestly, Elliot," Iris Mercer laughed, looping one sun-bronzed arm around my shoulder, "you only have eyes for her, don't you? You'd better put some real effort into that proposal next month. If you half-ass it, I'll be the first one to come after you."

Elliot shot her a sideways look, his tone carrying its usual dry edge. "What would a perpetual singleton like you know about romance? You've never even been in a relationship."

Any other day, their bickering would have made me laugh. Today, I couldn't take in a single word.

My eyes kept drifting back to his phone. Auto-connected. The words lodged themselves in my mind like a splinter. They wouldn't betray me. The three of us had known each other since college. Iris was my closest friend. Elliot was the man I'd been in love with for three years.

I was still turning it over in my head when Elliot's brow suddenly furrowed, his gaze dropping to Iris' left arm. I followed his line of sight and noticed it then: a faint scar along her forearm.

"When did that happen?" The easy smile was gone from his face, replaced by an edge of tension that didn't quite belong there.

Iris glanced at it carelessly. "Scraped it hiking in Valderra. It's been fine for ages."

But Elliot was already pulling out his phone. "Dr. Lawson, could you be at the office tomorrow? Yes. A friend has a wound I'd like you to take a look at." He hung up and met Iris' surprised expression with a shrug, slipping back into his usual nonchalance. "Don't read into it. I just don't want you suing me for damages later."

Something in my chest sank slowly, steadily. I thought of the burn on the back of my hand last month, the one I'd gotten by accident. Elliot hadn't noticed for three days, and when he finally did, he'd just told me to go see a doctor on my own.

Iris seemed to catch my silence. Her eyes flickered. "You okay, Wren? You don't look so good."

I managed a smile, my fingers tracing the cold surface of the cup without thinking. I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles.