Sasha:
What about the money?
I frowned.
Callan:
I’ll handle it.
Sasha:
And the house?
Callan:
She won’t fight me if I do it carefully.
My stomach tightened.
I read it again.
The bedroom door opened.
I looked up.
Callan stood there.
His hair was wet.
He looked at the phone in my hand.
He didn’t ask what I’d found.
He knew.
“You weren’t supposed to find that.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
I put the phone on the bed.
“You weren’t supposed to get caught.”
He closed his eyes.
“Bryony…”
“How long?”
“I told you.”
“No. You lied.”
“I was scared.”
“You weren’t scared when you were doing it.”
He looked at me.
“I love you.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t say that.”
“I do.”
“Then what was she?”
He said nothing.
“What was my sister?”
He sat down.
“I don’t know.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t know?”
“It was complicated.”
“Nothing about this is complicated.”
I pointed at the phone.
“You made it complicated because you wanted two lives.”
He rubbed his face.
“I tried to end it.”
“When?”
“Many times.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
He looked away.
I understood.
“You didn’t want to.”
He didn’t answer.
That was the answer.
PART 4 — THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Sasha came to the house the next morning.
She knocked twice.
I opened the door.
She looked exhausted.
For once, she wasn’t wearing makeup.
For once, she didn’t look like the confident woman who could walk into a room and make everyone look at her.
She looked like my sister.
And somehow that made it worse.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“Bryony.”
“You can stand there.”
She looked down.
“I want to explain.”
“You’ve had nine years.”
“I know.”
“That’s plenty of time.”
She closed her eyes.
“I loved him.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t plan for it to happen.”
“When did it happen?”
She didn’t answer.
“When?”
“2016.”
“I know.”
Her eyes lifted.
“You read the messages.”
“Yes.”
She looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
She frowned.
“No?”
“Don’t make this smaller than it is.”
“I am sorry.”
“You’re sorry you got caught.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Then tell me what is true.”
She started crying.
I waited.
“I loved him before I knew what I was doing.”
