Chapter 5

Dominic went still. I didn't dare make a sound.

Elliot's voice came through the speakers, threaded with static.

"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Kingsley. I can't reach my wife — she mentioned she was having dinner with you. Are you two still together?"

"What?" Dominic gave me a disbelieving look.

I sat up straight and shook my head frantically. I never said that. Elliot was fishing.

Dominic read me instantly. "I'm not having dinner with her. You must have it wrong."

"My mistake, then. Sorry to trouble you."

"Not at all."

A beat. Then Dominic's tone shifted — still smooth, but with an edge.

"Though, Mr. Bramwell — if you can't reach your wife, you call the police. You don't ring a stranger. That's rather rude, don't you think?"

A long pause from Elliot's end.

"Mr. Kingsley, you're not married. You wouldn't understand. Sitting alone, calling through her contacts one by one — yes, it's humiliating. But that's a small price." His voice dropped, deliberate. "What I care about is where she is. And who's trying to interfere in my marriage."

Dominic's expression closed off. The humor left his face.

"So I'm the one who offended you?" Elliot almost seemed amused.

I signaled wildly at Dominic. Hang up.

"I have a meeting coming in," he said. "We're done here."

Elliot's voice came through one last time, perfectly calm, perfectly strange: "I didn't say my name."

Dominic ended the call and pulled over, windows down, breathing.

"He thinks I'm the affair. That's terrifying." He muttered something under his breath. "Must be a stressful occupation."

"You slipped up," I said.

"You married a detective. You do surveillance, he interrogates. Great partnership."

I laughed despite myself. "An unhappy marriage produces excellent investigators."

He pressed his lips together, not amused. "How did he get my number?"

"The business card. He kept it."

"I'm blocking him." He reached for his phone, then paused and looked at me. "I've added you on iMessage. Accept it."

I didn't move.

He'd already broken things off with Natasha. Why did we need to stay in contact? After everything today — especially the image of Natasha on her knees — I was beginning to think Dominic Kingsley was someone I didn't need more of in my life.

"Mr. Kingsley, I'm still married. I think it's better if we don't stay in touch."

He looked at me. Tilted his head. "Meaning?"

"I'm a respectable person."

"...Right. And I'm not."

He exhaled slowly, leaning back in the seat, eyes drifting to the ceiling.

"Your husband slept with my girlfriend. I didn't go after him. He turned around and interrogated me on the phone. You and I are completely innocent. Somehow I'm the one getting called a homewrecker." He looked at me flatly. "And now you're telling me I'm not respectable?"

"That's not—"

He wasn't done.

"Today alone — I worked, I got conned, I got cheated on — I can't believe this day."

Then he unclipped his seatbelt, got out, walked around the front of the car, yanked my door open, released my seatbelt, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out onto the road.

"What are you doing?" I stumbled. "Dominic Kingsley, this is a civilized country, there are cameras everywhere—"

"You also know it's a civilized country." He dragged me around to the front of the car and pressed my hand against the crumpled panel. "I took a half-day off. I get on the road and some woman is doing eighty-five on a forty-limit mountain pass—"

"Eighty — was it eighty-five?"

"You almost killed me." He put a hand on the back of my neck and pushed my head down to look at the damage. "Look at what you did to my car. You want to run away without even giving me your number?"

I felt heat creep up my neck. "I was wrong. It's entirely my fault."

He bent down close. "Are you or are you not going to accept my contact?"

"Yes, fine—"

"Pin me to the top."

"...Fine."

"Set me as a Favorite."

"Why does that—"

"My car is expensive," he said, as if this explained it completely. "I'm going to invoice you. Don't pretend you can't see the messages."

I gave up.

We crouched by the side of the mountain road while he watched me add him in real time.

"Don't mute me."

"Fine."

"I want to be above your husband."

I looked at him.

Dominic considered for a moment, then waved it off. "Never mind. Husband comes first."

We finally reached a truce.