“There are my two favorite people.”
He approached and kissed my forehead.
And that was when I noticed the scent.
Coconut.
Vanilla.
The same soft perfume I had smelled when standing beside the woman at the bakery.
My suspicion hardened.
Gregory loosened his tie.
“How was your day?”
I looked at the man I had built an entire life with.
Part of me wanted to point toward the empty jewelry box and demand answers.
Instead, I smiled.
“Exhausting.”
He nodded.
“Mine too.”
Then I added casually:
“Toby told me something funny at the store.”
Gregory’s hand stopped halfway to his collar.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
“What did he say?”
“He recognized someone.”
The smile remained on Gregory’s face.
His eyes changed.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
I watched him carefully.
“A young woman.”
Silence.
“He says she visits our house while I’m working.”
Gregory slowly lowered his hand.
For the first time, he wasn’t looking directly at me.
I continued.
“He also says she spends time in our bedroom.”
“Kids imagine things.”
“Maybe.”
I walked toward the dresser.
Gregory finally noticed the open jewelry box.
The color drained from his face.
That reaction told me more than any confession could have.
I picked up the empty velvet box.
“There’s something else.”
He stared at it.
“I saw her today.”
Gregory said nothing.
“She was wearing my sapphire necklace.”
His expression changed completely.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Where?”
The urgency in his voice surprised me.
“At the bakery.”
“With Toby?”
“Yes.”
Gregory immediately reached for his phone.
I stepped between him and the door.
“Who is she?”
He looked at me.
“Did you speak to her?”
“Answer my question.”
“Did she see Toby?”
“Yes.”
Gregory closed his eyes.
“Gregory, who is that woman?”
When he opened them again, the husband I knew seemed to have disappeared.
“Lock the front door.”
I almost laughed.
“What?”
“Lock it.”
“I’m not doing anything until you tell me what’s happening.”
He glanced toward the hallway where Toby had disappeared downstairs.
Then he lowered his voice.
“You think she’s my mistress.”
I didn’t answer.
Gregory shook his head.
“I wish that were the problem.”
A chill ran through me.
He took the empty jewelry box from my hand.
“I didn’t give her your necklace.”
“Then how did she get it?”
His answer came quietly.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to find out.”
I stared at him.
“Trying?”
Gregory sat on the edge of the bed.
Then he told me something I never expected.
Small things had been disappearing from our bedroom for months.
Nothing obvious.
Nothing valuable enough to immediately alarm me.
An old photograph.
A spare key.
A handwritten letter I’d kept from my mother.
Gregory had noticed because several items had later reappeared in strange places.
At first, he assumed one of us had simply moved them.
Then he caught the young woman inside our house.
“You caught her?”
He nodded.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I wanted to know why she was here before frightening you.”
My anger returned.
“So you secretly allowed a stranger into our home?”
“No.”
His voice became firmer.
“She already knew how to get inside.”
