Page 7

“Yes, I’m the executive chef.”

I explained how that had come about, including answering her questions about my salary and benefits.

“Then we have another piece of leverage.” She wrote while she talked. “They pulled you out of a position with much better compensation to underpay you for work the vineyard benefited from. That’s separate from the prenuptial agreement and marriage settlement. You relied on promises from your husband and his parents, and your spouse who owed you a duty not to strip your career so his family’s business could save on a chef. The prenup might protect the vineyard, but it doesn’t stop us from going after their corporate ledger for back wages and fraudulent inducement claims.”

I sat back. “Sounds like I have a lot of options if I don’t want to just walk away with my million dollars.”

“You’ve brought me more avenues to explore than most clients,” Dana agreed. “Please send me your payment records and joint bank statements as soon as you can. I’ll reach out to the lawyer who advised you on the prenup to confirm whether throwing it out is an option. My investigator will get to work. Then we’ll decide whether we enforce the penalty or go after the agreement itself. And if you want to file a claim against the winery or use the underpayment of wages as leverage for a bigger settlement without needing to go to court.”

“I appreciate you laying it all out for me so I understand.” I stood and slid my phone into my pocket. “I’ll head straight home to get you everything you need while Harrison is busy with work.”

“Thanks.” She walked me out to the reception desk. “Kelsey can handle the retainer and representation agreement. She’ll also make a copy of your prenup for my records.”

I signed where indicated and used an account only in my name to pay. Dana’s assistant slid the receipt across the counter, along with a copy of the agreement. I put it in the folder with the original prenup once she returned it to me. “Thank you.”

The elevator let me out into the garage. I sat in the car long enough to pull myself together. Harrison had stayed in Temecula until this morning, and I’d left our house before he returned because I wasn’t ready to see him yet. I spent my morning visiting several specialty food markets I hadn’t been to in too long.

He texted while I was on the way to Dana’s office and lied about missing me and promising we’d have dinner together tonight. A late one since I’d made something up about being busy until after six, which had been fine with him because he was supposedly booked solid all afternoon and early evening anyway. Probably a meeting with Brie at a hotel somewhere since his mistress missed him so much.

I made a retching sound as my stomach turned, thinking of them in bed together right now. Starting the engine, I was determined to get home and find everything Dana needed. The sooner this was all over, the better.

Except I should’ve paid more attention when I arrived home. I didn’t wonder why there was a red convertible at the curb in front of our house as I parked on the driveway and went in through the front door instead of using the garage. I planned to drive straight back to Dana’s office once I found everything, so it seemed easier.

As I walked through the front door, I assumed the alarm was off because Harrison had forgotten to set it when he left, since he made that mistake at least once a month.

And I didn’t stop and turn around when I reached the top of the stairs and heard sounds coming from the primary bedroom. Or even just head toward the smallest guest bedroom, which Harrison had told me to use as my home office. He got the big one downstairs, and the other bedrooms were reserved for his parents when they were in town or other people he invited to stay with us because the house was his, as he liked to remind me.

But I never felt it more than when I stood a few steps from the doorway of the bedroom we’d shared for nine years and saw him on top of the young woman from all the texts.

4

CELIA

Ilifted my phone before I let myself step closer. My fingers trembled, but the camera app opened on the first try. After snapping a couple of photos, I switched it to video and hit record.

Harrison’s back was to the hall as he thrust into another woman. Her face was blocked from my view by his body, but her identity was confirmed when he groaned, “Brie.”

Gripping his shoulders, she moaned. “More, baby. Take me harder. Deeper.”

My husband’s mistress was begging for his dick in our bed. On sheets I bought. With her head on my pillow.

The ring on Harrison’s left hand caught the light when he shifted to press his palm into the mattress next to her waist. He hadn’t even bothered to take it off. Yet more proof that our marriage didn’t mean anything to him.

I stopped the recording, checked that it had been saved, and sent the video to my email in case Harrison managed to get my phone away from me to delete it. Then I hit record again before carefully placing my phone in my pocket, hoping I’d catch the audio from our confrontation. Then Dana would have options for what to use as proof of his infidelity.

They still hadn’t noticed me. I could walk away right now, and they wouldn’t know I’d been here. My plan had been to have a strategy in place with Dana before Harrison found out I knew about the affair. But finding him in bed with her here changed everything for me. I couldn’t climb onto that mattress tonight after what I just saw.

I had my proof. My copy of the prenup was safely with my lawyer. The records for what I’d earned before I took over the kitchen at Cromwell Winery couldn’t be changed. Neither could the paltry sum his parents had paid me each month for the past five years.

Keeping quiet right now provided me with no advantage. So I stepped forward and knocked my fingers against the doorframe. “Almost done? I’d like to pack some of my clothes, but I need to walk past you to get to the closet.”

“Celia.” Harrison twisted around, reaching for the duvet to pull it over their naked bodies. “This isn’t what you think.”

“Not what I think?” I echoed, shaking my head. “You’re naked in our bed with another woman. Having sex. Are you seriously going to try to tell me there’s what…some explanation other than the obvious?”

“I…I—” he sputtered as he yanked his arm from Brie’s grasp.

“C’mon, Harrison. You can do better than that.” I leaned against the doorway. “Let me guess, she’s a personal shopper, and while you were trying on a new suit, you tripped and fell on top of her.”