I stepped out of the building and took a long breath.

Elena Caruso. You think you can hide behind his back and I won't know what to do with you? Let me show you what the lawful wife's playbook looks like.

That night, Damian came home late, just as I expected. He reeked of women's perfume.

"Dinner with one of the silent partners. Had a few drinks." He let out a beery hiccup. "Let me go shower first."

While the water was running, I picked up his phone.

Elena: "Honey, the checkup went great! The doctor says they can tell the sex now. It's a boy!"

Damian's reply: "That's amazing! My son! I'll go with you tomorrow to shop for baby stuff."

"You're so good to me, honey. I love you!"

"I love you too, you and our baby. Once he's born, we'll be a real family."

Reading their nauseating little love notes made me want to throw up.

They had it all planned out. They were just waiting for the lawful wife to disappear.

Like hell.

I set the phone back exactly where it had been and fixed an innocent smile on my face.

When Damian came out of the bathroom, I went over and started kneading his shoulders. The bedroom was quiet except for the low hum of the estate's perimeter lights clicking through their cycle outside the window.

"You've been working so hard, honey. So many dinners with the associates lately."

He leaned into it, a flash of smugness in his eyes. "All for our future."

"Oh, by the way," I kept my voice light, idle. "That little receptionist at your office looked pregnant. So young to be having a baby."

His body went stiff. I felt it under my palms, the muscles along his shoulders locking like a man who'd just heard a gun cock in a quiet room.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." He wet his lower lip before the words came out.

"Looked pretty far along, too. Three or four months, maybe." I kept pressing.

"Kids these days. They don't know how to be careful." The words came out thin, scraping for cover.

I was laughing inside, but on the surface I kept my voice warm and concerned. "Right? I hope her boyfriend's a responsible guy. Otherwise it's just sad."

"I'm sure he is." Damian was starting to sweat.

The next day, I had the private investigator keep tailing them.

Sure enough, Damian took Elena to an upscale baby boutique on the far side of the territory, well outside the neighborhood where anyone in the Family might see them. The two of them browsed the aisles together like any happy couple.

In the photos, one arm circled her waist, the other hand resting on her belly, and the way he was looking at her, soft, adoring, was exactly how he used to look at me when we first got married.

It got worse. They went to a jewelry store afterward and picked out a diamond ring worth two hundred thousand for her.

When we got married, I'd told him not to spend too much on a ring, that I didn't need it. He'd been so moved his eyes went red, almost tearing up. And now he was dropping two hundred thousand on a diamond for his kept woman?

I turned my wedding band once with my thumb. Then I saved every single photo. Evidence for the dissolution.

That afternoon, I used shopping as an excuse and headed to the mall Elena liked to frequent.

It didn't take long. She was in a café, chatting with a girlfriend.

I sat down in a corner nearby and listened.

"Sunny, are you really sure about this? He's a married man." Her friend sounded worried.

"So what? He doesn't love her. The only reason he's still married to her is her family's money." Elena waved it off. "He told me once I give him a son, he'll find an excuse to leave her."

"But what if he's stringing you along?"

"He's not. Look how good he is to me." Elena held up her hand to show off. "This ring? Two hundred thousand. He bought me an apartment, too. You think a man spends that kind of money if he's not serious?"

Her friend still looked uneasy. "But if his wife finds out…"

"So what if she does?" Elena rubbed her belly, triumphant. "I'm carrying his son. That's the biggest card I could possibly hold. Men want their bloodline. He's not going to throw me and his child away."

"And that old hag? Three years married and she couldn't pop out a single kid. I got pregnant and it's a boy. Tell me, who's he going to pick?"

Old hag. The words nearly made me lose it right there.

Twenty-eight. I was twenty-eight and she was calling me an old hag?

I forced the rage down and kept listening. My thumb found my wedding band again, turning it slow.

"He promised me. Once the baby's born, he'll go public with us and make me his wife." Elena's face was glowing with the fantasy. "I'll be the lady of the house. Never have to put up with anyone's looks again."

"Does Adriana Moretti even know you exist?"

The sound of my name in this woman's friend's mouth, spoken so casually in a café where anyone with the wrong ears could be sitting. I didn't move. I didn't breathe.

"Probably not. Damian plays the perfect husband at home. Never slips up." Elena laughed, pleased with herself. Her fingernails tapped twice against her coffee cup. "But even if she did find out, so what? I have a son. She doesn't. I win."

Enough.

I couldn't listen to another word. I stood up and walked out of the café.

Outside, the afternoon sun hit me and the street noise of the territory rushed back in. Two of our neighborhood soldiers were leaning against a wall half a block down, unaware I was there, talking about nothing. The whole world was going on as if nothing had cracked underneath it.

I called my father.

"Dad. It's time."