Chapter 1

I switched off my phone, resisting the urge to bombard him with dozens of demanding texts like I used to.

I slept soundly until broad daylight.

The next day, Mark came home carrying a box of bagels, his shirt rumpled and a stray sequin clinging to his collar.

He looked at me with a sheepish, ingratiating expression before launching into his explanation:

“Honey, I am so sorry. Sarah just went through a breakup, so the gang took her out to cheer her up. It got super late, and I didn’t want to wake you coming in, so I just crashed on the floor at her place with everyone else. But don’t worry, sweetie, I swear I didn’t share a bed with anyone.”

He made a point of emphasizing that he hadn't slept in the same bed as Sarah.

The last time he’d stayed out all night, we’d had a massive blowout.

I was furious that, as a married man, he seemed completely oblivious to the boundaries of married life.

Every other day, he was out hitting the bars with a gaggle of women.

Mark, however, accused me of being too controlling.

He swore blindly that he’d known these girls since college, claiming they were just his “bros.”

The mere thought of his so-called “bros” made my stomach turn.

Sarah was the one who got under my skin the most.

She and Mark had been classmates in college and were practically joined at the hip.

In modern parlance, Sarah was a textbook “pick-me girl,” and Mark lapped up the attention.

To me, however, their relationship was rife with inappropriate intimacy.

More than once, I’d seen a tipsy Sarah leaning on Mark’s shoulder, sobbing about some ex-boyfriend.

They even shared milkshakes with a single straw, with zero regard for boundaries.

In the beginning, Mark would patiently try to explain.

He’d hold me close, assuring me that I was the only one he loved.

But as time went on, his patience wore thin. He would just coldly dismiss me with a single line:

“There is absolutely nothing going on between Sarah and me. If I was into her, we would have gotten together long before I ever met you.”

Naturally, his swarm of female friends would chime in to gaslight me as well.

“Elena, we’ve known Mark forever. We’re like family. You’re overthinking it.”

“We’re just one big family.”

Family?

What kind of siblings fix each other's collars at parties while locking eyes with that kind of intensity?

It was positively nauseating.

I told Mark countless times how much it bothered me. I hated him going out and carousing with that crowd late into the night.

Somehow, word got back to Sarah. Suddenly, her “squad” started taking subtle jabs at me, their comments dripping with passive-aggression.

“Oh, Mark, you’d better run along home. Or the ball and chain will be checking up on you again.”

“Mark, you’re a married man now. We wouldn't dare let you walk us home; we’re terrified your wife might get jealous.”

They would crack these jokes right to my face.

Gradually, I was painted as the narrow-minded, humorless shrew.

And my marriage with Mark grew colder by the day.

I snapped back to reality as Mark handed me a freshly brewed Americano.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind.

“Elena, are you still mad? Come on, don't be like that. They’re really just friends. You mean so much more to me than they do.”

I remained silent.

“Stop being mad, please? How about we go on vacation next week? Just the two of us. We can go skiing in Aspen. Isn’t there that famous resort you’ve always wanted to visit? I’ll take you.”

I was an avid skier and had always dreamed of going to Aspen.

I’d tried to get Mark to go in the past, but he always claimed he hated the cold and had zero interest in it.

When Sarah found out, she had even mocked me for it.

“Skiing? That sounds exhausting. Plus, you have to bundle up like a bear.”

“Our Mark hates the cold more than anything. Why would he want to suffer through that?”

Eventually, I stopped bringing it up.

But now, here was Mark, suggesting it himself.

A faint glimmer of hope ignited within me.

Seeing my expression soften, Mark lit up.

He immediately promised to book the flights and the hotel, assuring me he would handle every detail.