"Watch me," Olivia said.
She pulled her phone from her pocket. She opened the camera and snapped a photo of the forged signature. She flipped the page, photographing the transfer amounts, the dates, the account numbers, and the authorization form bearing James's name. She made sure she captured the proof that this was intentionally hidden from her.
"Liv, stop," James urged, taking a step closer. "You are making this worse. No one else needs to know about this. You will ruin both of us if you turn this into something bigger than it has to be."
He was more terrified of exposure than he was of her pain.
"Are you sorry you did it, or are you just sorry I found out?" Olivia asked, looking him straight in the eyes.
James did not answer fast enough.
Olivia walked past him, clutching her phone and the black folder. She went upstairs to the master bedroom and pulled a duffel bag from the closet. Her hands shook as she packed. Every item felt like a physical blow. She threw in clothes, toiletries, and her phone charger. She packed her bakery notes and the competition paperwork. She walked past the vanilla perfume he had bought her. She looked at her wedding ring, her thumb tracing the gold band, unsure of what to do with it yet.
James stood in the bedroom doorway, trying to talk her down. "You are overreacting, Olivia. You will regret leaving. We shouldn't make this public. I made mistakes, but everything I did, I did for us."
She did not believe a single word. She zipped the duffel bag closed, picked it up, and walked out.
The night air hit her face as she walked to her car. She was not triumphant. She was broken, humiliated, and terrified of what came next. She threw her bag into the passenger seat and sat behind the steering wheel, the black folder resting on her lap.
Where could she go? A hotel room would be unbearable. She could not bear the thought of showing up at Sophie's or Hannah's front door in the middle of the night, forcing them to wake their children while she explained her ruined marriage. The bakery offered no real protection.
There was only one place her mind went.
Leo.
He had kept his distance for weeks. He had been careful, polite, and restrained. She did not know what they were right now. She did not know if she had the right to show upunannounced. She did not know if his life had already made room for someone else. But her body trusted him before her mind could even formulate the argument.
She started the engine and drove.
She did not call ahead. She almost dialed his number at three different stoplights, but each time, she pulled her thumb back. With the proof of her shattered marriage resting on her lap, she worried she was asking too much of him.
When she pulled into Leo's driveway, she put the car in park and sat staring at his front door. Her hands trembled so badly she had to grip the steering wheel to force them to stop. She told herself she could just knock. She could ask for one night. Just one night where she did not have to breathe the same air as James.
Olivia grabbed her duffel bag, tucked the folder under her arm, and walked up the front steps.
She knocked on the heavy wooden door.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the lock clicked, and the door opened.
It was not Leo.
It was Brooklyn.
Olivia froze. Brooklyn stood barefoot in the entryway, dressed in a comfortable oversized sweater, looking beautiful and entirely at ease in Leo's home. She was not just passing through. She belonged there.
The sight hit Olivia with brutal force. After the forged documents, the lies, and leaving her own house with a bag in her hand, she had come to the one place she thought might be safe. Seeing Brooklyn standing at the door made Olivia feel as though she had misunderstood this, too. This was not her place anymore. Maybe it never had been. Leo had moved on, and she had been selfish to think she could just show up on his doorstep.
Brooklyn looked surprised. "Olivia?" she asked, her voice careful.
Olivia tried to answer, but her throat closed. She became painfully aware of how she looked—pale, tear-stained, clutching a duffel bag like a woman with nowhere else to go. Embarrassment burned her cheeks, adding a humiliating layer to the grief.
She took a half-step backward. She forced a polite smile that barely formed on her lips. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come. This was a mistake."
Brooklyn's expression shifted, understanding right away that something was terribly wrong.
Before Olivia could turn around, Leo appeared in the hallway behind Brooklyn.
He stopped the second he saw Olivia.
