Lana stopped. So did her heart.
Color? What color? She didn’t need any color in her face.
Ken wasn’t talking to the maid back home like an employer. He leaned back in his large leather chair, knee resting against the desk as he spun himself to and fro with the dumbest smile on his even dumber face. Fuck me. Fuck him! That voice… that was the voice he used when talking sweet to Lana. To his wife.
“When I think of you, Bunny, I can’t help but sound like this.” That’s what he told her years ago, when she first asked him why he spoke so softly like that. She had never heard it from any other man, and she had yet to hear him talk that way to another woman. Until now.
She was going to kill him.
“That’s fine. Go ahead and put it on my desk. I’ll put it all away later.” Laughter. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll talk to you about it later.” Ken leaned forward, bending his elbows on his desk. That stupid smirk would not leave his face. “And I’ll see you soon.”
He hung up.
Lana remained in the archway, undetected. She stared at her husband, the man who supposedly loved her above all others. The man she took a vow to always be open and trusting with. The man who was definitely cheating on her.
The therapist was wrong. So. Fucking. Wrong.
It wasn’t all in Lana’s head.
It was right here in front of her, and its name was a tale as old as time. My husband is screwing the help.
Maybe not just screwing.
Romancing.
That was one boundary they never crossed: romancing other partners. They would seduce, but they would never make it emotional. That route led to nothing but tears and terror. Like now, as Lana faced her crumbling marriage before her very eyes.
“Kenneth.”
She was going to do it. She was going to confront him.
He turned in his chair, surprised, but not shocked. The man had no shame! Here he was, getting off the phone with the real mistress while the wife walked in and caught him practically red-handed. If she didn’t kill him, his lack of shame would.
“Bunny,” he said, using that same voice he used with Chloe over the phone. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
No shit.
“Thought I’d drop by,” she replied, tight-lipped. “Was in the neighborhood.” Asshole.
Even though Lana stood in front of him like she was about to rip off his balls, Ken remained completely unfazed. How dare he be so composed? Didn’t he realize what his wife had witnessed? “It’s always a pleasure to see you, Wife. Did you drive down? We could go get dinner later. I hear there’s a nice new Italian place a few blocks from here…”
Lana was going to cut straight to the point. “I heard you on the phone with the maid.” She paused for emphasis. “Anything wrong back home?” Like your dick in the wrong woman? Lana heard that happened totally on accident sometimes.
“Oh? That?” Here it came. The lies. “Nothing of any concern. Chloe called me to inform me that a package I’ve been anxiously expecting arrived. I told her to leave it in my office to look at later.”
“Hey, baby, let’s check out my package together… in my office.” Gag.
“You sounded awfully familiar with her, Kenneth.”
She continued to stand like an anxious soldier waiting for her orders. Kill. Those are my orders. Hell hath no fury…
“Why shouldn’t I have been familiar with her? She’s been working for us for months now.” Finally, that man frowned. “What is this about? I’m telling you the truth, Bunny.”
Lana lowered her arms, nearly letting her purse fall off her shoulder. I want to believe him. Why wouldn’t she? She just came out of therapy, declaring how much she loved her husband and how much she wanted to believe that everything she’d been imagining was a lie. “Kenny...”
“Come here.” Ken patted his lap.
She wanted to go. She wanted to flee – to go back to her therapist’s office with this brand new information. But I want him. Lana took one tentative step forward, afraid that she would fall for her husband’s demeanor once again.
This man wouldn’t really cheat on her, right? It was all in her head, right? What was Lana to do? Did she trust her gut, which sent up a million red flags? Or did she trust her heart, that didn’t care what her husband did as long as he treated her as he always did?