Page 56 of Circle of Strangers
Will takes a step closer, his expression softening.
“About the other night ...” His voice is gentle, like he’s treading carefully. “I hate fighting with you. Weneverfight. This isn’t us.”
He reaches out, brushing his fingers against my arm in a way that used to feel comforting. Now it just feels calculated. First he tried to play victim, justifying his choice to deceive me about Jacqueline, and now he’s fawning. His actions are desperate and, at the end of the day, useless on me.
“I didn’t mean to blow up,” he adds. “I hate how things have been between us lately. How did we get here? How can we fix this?”
I stare at him, his words pressing against my chest like a stifling weight. This version of Will—the loving, affectionate one—isn’t new. It’s just not the version I trust anymore.
“You’re going to have to try harder than this,” I say.
Will’s demeanor crumples with something that almost resembles panic. He grabs my hand, holding it tightly, like a man gripping the edge of a cliff.
“Please, Camille,” he says, his voice thick with anguish. “Tell me what to do. I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right again. Just tell me how to make you happy again.”
I don’t respond. I used to think I knew him. Will and the kids have been the closest thing I’ve ever known to genuine love.
Up until a month ago, I would’vediedto protect this man.
Now, he could step in front of a bus and I wouldn’t try to stop him, wouldn’t feel a thing.
I almost wish he were having an affair instead of talking to his mother. It’s a betrayal of an entirely different variety, one I doubt anyone would understand if they weren’t in my shoes. Sex is sex. My emotions are bulletproof. But my drive to protect my family? That’s my Achilles’ heel and Will, of all people, knows that.
The fact that he went behind my back to communicate with the evil woman who tried to destroy our happy home ... it’s unforgivable.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he whispers, his thumb brushing gently over my knuckles. “But I feel like I already have.”
I pull my hand from his grasp, the absence of his touch cold and absolute. “I need to start dinner.”
I watch the hope drain from his eyes as I turn and walk toward the house, the door clicking shut behind me with a quiet finality—the end of an era.
44
What the hell is this?
Will stands at the foot of our driveway before his night class the next evening, talking to Mara and Oscar. The three are strangely relaxed. Mara’s head falls back in laughter, and Will’s smile—that trademark smile of his—is easy, warm, as if nothing is wrong, as if he hasn’t betrayed me by talking to themagain.
We didn’t say more than two words to one another after dinner last night, and he retired early to the guest room as soon as the kids were in bed. I spent the night plotting the logistics of how to leave him—it won’t be easy given the fact that I’m financially dependent on him. It’s going to take time. And a solid strategy. I’m going to have to make him think we’re reconciling while I stash money away for a good attorney who can help me iron out a solid custody agreement and generous spousal support so my children won’t have to suffer for their father’s sins.
Should he choose to make this more difficult than it needs to be, I’ll have to play dirty.
He has family money—he could afford the best attorney in the city.
But I have the kind of ruthless determination and a knack for psychological warfare that no amount of money can buy.
It’s going to be a draining process, but in the end, it’ll be worth it. I refuse to stay married to this pathetic liar a second longer than I have to.
I grip the frame of the front door so tightly my knuckles turn white, then I push the door open harder than necessary, the noise of it slamming against the wall cutting through the evening stillness. Will turns at the sound, his carefree expression faltering when he sees me.
Mara offers a quick wave, her gold bracelets jingling as she tucks her hair behind her ear. Oscar gives me a polite nod, though there’s something guarded in his eyes. Lately it’s as if the whole True Spark thing was a fever dream.
But in a near instant, the three exchange brief goodbyes and the Morenos head back toward their house.
I clearly broke up their little “party.”
I stalk down the driveway, my pulse pounding in my ears.
“What was that?” I snap at Will.
