Page 48

I knew something was off. Knew it the second she started walking around the house in silence, started sleeping in the guest room, and asking me about money and deeds. Stuff that wasn’t her business.

She was thinking too much. I didn’t like when Zane thought. That wasn’t her role. That was mine. She was there to cook and clean and look pretty. All the men at the office envied me because I had her.

The door swung open. Janet stood on the other side in a silk robe barely covering the black lingerie underneath. Her hair was curled. Lipstick perfect.

I didn’t care.

I wasn’t here for that.

"Where’s your husband?" I demanded, voice clipped.

She blinked, lips parted slightly. “Excuse you?”

"My wife hasn’t been home in three days. She said she was meeting Sam at a site. I haven’t seen her since, and your husband’s not answering the phone."

Janet folded her arms under her chest, clearly annoyed I wasn’t drooling over the view.

“Why would she be meeting him at a site?”

"He hired her."

Her brows pulled tight. “He what?”

I exhaled sharply through my nose. "He came to my house to pick up some papers and then they dropped the bomb on me that he hired her. She hinted at me having an affair. I had to let her."

Janet tilted her head slightly. “Sam didn’t mention her. Not once.”

“Convenient,” I muttered.

She pulled her phone out and tapped quickly.

I pushed past her into the house and paced her floor.

Why would Zane not come home?

She wasn’t bold. She wasn’t brave. She was trained better than that. I’d spent years refining her. Breaking the spirit she had when we first met. Zane wasn’t strong-headed, but she was smart. She pushed back, sure—but I studied psychology. I studied people. Judges, jurors, liars, and weak-willed women. I knew how to break her bad habits. With time, Zane had stoppedneeding her own opinion. She started looking to me before she spoke That was peace.

Janet’s phone buzzed.

“It’s him,” she said.

“Don’t tell him I’m here—just say you heard.”

She hit speaker.

"Yeah?" Sam’s voice filled the room.

"Where’s Zane?" she asked.

"The neighbor? Why the hell would I know?" he replied. Too calm to be guilty.

"You hired her," Janet snapped. "She was supposed to meet you on-site Monday morning. She never came back home."

"That doesn’t have shit to do with me. I sent her to the site. With the other crew members. She didn’t show. I didn’t think about it—thought her husband told her no."

"Where are you again?" Janet asked.

"North Florida," Sam said, irritation seeping through the speakers. "I told you. I got a few jobs here after the conference. I’ll be back in a few weeks."