Chapter 3

Adrian panicked and rushed over. “Penny, what's wrong?”

I threw up until the world spun and tears ran down my face, and I couldn't tell if they were from the heaving or from something else.

Why?

Why would Adrian, who loved me so much, cheat?

And bring his mistress home to do it, with no fear I'd find out?

Was he getting off on the thrill of it? Or did he just trust that my love for him was so absolute I'd forgive him no matter what I saw?

Adrian hovered over me, frantic. “Penny, are you okay? If you're sick, let me take you to a hospital.”

“No need. Dinner probably just didn't agree with me.”

His face darkened. “I'm sorry. I've been so busy I haven't had time to find you a new housekeeper.”

When I first came to the beastkin world from the human one, nothing was easy. I couldn't stomach their food, and a human body isn't built like a beastkin's, so even seeing a doctor was a struggle.

So that I'd eat properly, Adrian had hired a housekeeper to cook for me. But she'd recently quit for family reasons, and though he kept saying he'd find me a new one, two months had gone by, and every time it was the same: no time.

The truth was, it wasn't a lack of time. His mind just wasn't on me anymore.

“Don't bother.” I'm leaving soon anyway.

Adrian paused, then said nothing more. He took a pillow and a blanket from the bed. “Rest tonight. I won't sleep in here. Tomorrow I'll call a doctor to check you over. And stop eating whatever's around.”

That night, like every other, I slept on pills. The truth was, I couldn't have slept even with Adrian beside me, so I figured I might as well start getting used to sleeping alone.

The next morning I came downstairs to find the living room beautifully decorated, gifts piled to the ceiling and nine hundred and ninety-nine roses, and Adrian in a suit, down on one knee.

“Penny, I was wrong to forget our anniversary yesterday. I told you I'd make it up to you today. Do you like it?”

Looking at the gifts he'd put such care into, I felt strangely dazed, and then the tears came.

It wasn't from being moved, and it wasn't from grief. It was the war inside me.

I wanted to ask him all the questions I'd buried for so long.

Why? Why did you cheat?

Why did you do all of this for me when you didn't even love me?

Was I supposed to love you, or hate you?

“Adrian, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.” He gently wiped my tears.

“What if you fell for another woman?”

He pulled me into his arms, soothing. “That could never happen.”

“Just answer me.” My voice hardened.

“Then let me go my whole life without love, alone to the end. So I won't. You're the person I treasure most. I love you, Penny.”

Like I was under a spell, my mouth opened and I nearly said it back. I love you too.

And then his phone rang, and I snapped awake.

That ringtone belonged to his assistant, Vivian Shaw. A special one Adrian had set just for her.

He glanced at the screen, and the smile he couldn't hold back said everything.

It was practically overflowing with tenderness.

“One second. Let me deal with this.”

He picked up and hurried off.

I followed quietly behind him and heard him say, soft and doting, “What's up? Miss me?”

I couldn't hear her, but his face shifted instantly into something fawning. “I didn't forget about you. Last night was your fault for clinging to me. That's why I got back late and forgot the anniversary, and a certain someone at home wasn't happy.”

“First thing this morning I had the butler grab some random stuff. There, she's all soothed. You should've seen her face, crying like I'd given her the world.”

“Of course it's nothing next to your gift. Yours I picked out by hand. We haven't done it in the office in forever. Wear the nightgown I bought you. Once I've calmed her down, I'll come find you.”

I hid behind a tree and laughed at myself, low and bitter.

I really was a fool, almost taken in again by his act.

When I got home, Adrian came strolling in afterward, frowning at a text on his phone. “Penny, you made a donation?”

“The beastkin shelter messaged me. They said they'll be sending us something in a week. What is it?”

“You'll find out in a week.”

Because in a week, I would be gone for good.

My secrecy seemed to amuse him. He pressed a light kiss to my forehead. “My wife. Beautiful and kindhearted both.”

I scoffed.

“There's something I need to handle at the office. I'll head in now, and I'll come straight home after work.”

He grabbed his briefcase off the couch and hurried out.

Watching him go, my chest gave a sharp twist.

He was in such a hurry to rush off to his mistress.