Chapter 2

Ethan lies on the floor with one hand pressed against his stomach, blood seeping between his fingers. Lena is still standing over him, staring at the knife as if she can't understand how it ended up in her hand.

Ryan moves first.

“Lena, put the knife down.”

She looks at him, her face wet with tears. “Don't tell me what to do.”

“I'm not trying to hurt you. Just put it down.”

“You're the one who lied to me.”

Ryan's expression tightens. “I never lied about loving you.”

“Really?” Her voice breaks as she points at Ethan. “Then what was all of this?”

Ethan tries to push himself upright, but the movement makes him gasp.

“Lena…”

She turns on him. “Don't.”

The hotel hallway has already filled with footsteps. Someone must have called security, because within seconds the door swings open and two officers rush inside.

“Drop the weapon!”

Lena looks down at the knife.

For a moment, she seems frozen between panic and disbelief. Then she lets it fall.

“I didn't mean to kill him,” she whispers.

The officers move in and cuff her.

Ryan steps forward immediately. “She attacked him.”

Lena looks at him as if he has slapped her.

“You're blaming me?”

“You stabbed him!”

“You lied to me!”

“I never told you to do this.”

The argument fades behind me as the paramedics rush in. They cut through Ethan's shirt and begin working on him while one of the officers asks me what happened.

I give him the truth, or at least the part of it that matters.

“My husband was cheating on me. I found out tonight.”

The officer looks at Ryan, then Lena.

“Were you aware that Mr. Ryan was involved with Mrs. Ethan?”

I shake my head.

“I knew my husband was having an affair. I didn't know what either of them would do when they were confronted.”

The paramedics finally get Ethan onto the stretcher. As they wheel him toward the door, his eyes suddenly open.

They find mine.

“Mia…”

I walk beside him.

“You're still here.”

His breathing is shallow, but his eyes are fixed on me. “The business…”

Even now, that's what he's thinking about.

I lean closer.

“You should worry about staying alive first.”

His fingers tighten around the edge of the sheet.

“You can't…”

I give him a faint smile.

“Can't what?”

His eyes widen.

Then the doors swing shut between us.

For the first time tonight, Ethan looks genuinely afraid.

Not because he might die.

Because he has finally realized that the woman he thought he could control has been watching him all along.