The Lie I Already Told
Natalie's POV
I made it back to the office by nine.
"How was the clinic?" Priya asked, not looking up from her screen, the question so casual it barely registered as a question at all.
"Fine," I said. "Routine."
I sat with my hands folded on the desk for a long moment before I let myself actually open my laptop, Marcus's offer still sitting in my chest like something swallowed too fast. A senior design role. An independent budget. Full coverage for me and Noah. A reporting line that went straight to him, which meant, in practice, a reporting line that went nowhere near Daniel at all.
It should have felt like relief. Instead, it felt like standing at the edge of something with no railing.
I thought of every woman I'd ever watched leave a marriage like mine—quie
