Everything looked impossibly expensive.
Like the kind of place where people worried more about appearances than reality.
Daniel took a deep breath.
“You look beautiful tonight.”
I smiled politely.
The compliment felt rehearsed.
Like something he remembered to say because he knew he was supposed to.
Before I could answer, he was already out of the car heading toward his boss.
Toward Richard.
Lately, our marriage had felt different.
Not broken.
Not yet.
But strained.
Daniel was constantly stressed.
Always distracted.
Always working.
There were little things that bothered me.
A second charger hidden in our bedroom.
Phone calls taken in the garage.
A desk drawer he suddenly started locking.
Whenever I asked questions, he blamed work.
And because we had been married for eight years, I chose to trust him.
Trust seemed easier than suspicion.
Looking back, that was probably the last peaceful decision I made.
Inside the mansion, everything felt carefully curated.
Men in tailored suits discussed business deals.
Women in designer dresses gathered near the pool.
Servers moved silently through the crowd carrying silver trays.
Everywhere I looked, people seemed wealthier, more polished, more confident.
Meanwhile, I spent most of the evening chasing May away from things she could accidentally destroy.
At one point, I found her crouched beside the dessert table with frosting smeared across both hands.
I grabbed a napkin and started cleaning her up.
That was when Richard walked past with his wife.
Vanessa.
Tall.
Elegant.
Perfectly composed.
The kind of woman who never seemed out of place anywhere.
