“Yellow is boring.”
Elena set her purse down.
“How long?”
Derek turned.
“It’s not what you think.”
“How long have you been sleeping with her?”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“Since January.”
Elena did the math.
She had conceived the baby in February.
“You were cheating when we got pregnant.”
“It didn’t mean anything.”
Elena laughed softly.
“That’s comforting.”
“She’s unstable,” Derek continued quickly. “I tried to end it last week.”
“Is that why she destroyed my car?”
“She misunderstood.”
“She shredded our daughter’s car seat.”
Derek sighed.
“I’ll pay for the damage.”
The words hit her harder than anything else.
He thought money fixed this.
Elena sat in the rocking chair beside the crib.
“You were cheating while I was building this nursery,” she said quietly.
“While I was planning our daughter’s life.”
Derek looked annoyed.
“You’re being emotional.”
Elena stared at him.
“Get out.”
“Elena—”
“Get out of the nursery.”
He left.
She sat alone in the room she had built for her baby.
And for the first time, Elena realized something terrifying.
Brittany Kane hadn’t just attacked her.
She believed Elena was the other woman.
Which meant someone had been lying to her.
And Elena already knew who.
Part 2
The next morning, Elena woke in the bedroom she had grown up in.
For a few seconds she forgot everything.
The pale pink curtains.
The bookshelf full of old nursing textbooks.
The faded trophies from high school debate team.
Then the baby kicked.
Reality returned like a cold wave.
The affair.
The destroyed car.
The police report.
Her father.
Downstairs she heard voices—her mother’s calm, firm tone mixed with several others she didn’t recognize.
Elena pushed herself out of bed. At seven months pregnant, even standing required effort. Her hips ached. Her back throbbed.
But she needed answers.
When she entered the kitchen, she stopped short.
Five women sat around the table with her parents.
She recognized some of them—wives of police officers who worked under her father.
The Police Families Association.
They all turned when Elena walked in.
“Sweetheart,” her mother said gently, “come sit.”
Elena lowered herself into a chair.
“What’s going on?”
One of the women—Patricia, the deputy commissioner’s wife—slid a thick folder across the table.
“We did some digging.”
Elena blinked.
“Digging?”
“About Brittany Kane.”
The name alone made Elena’s stomach twist.
Patricia opened the folder.
“Her father is Richard Kane.”
Elena frowned.
“Okay…?”
“He’s Derek’s business partner.”
The room went quiet.
Elena felt something cold spread through her chest.
“What?”
Jennifer—another woman at the table—pulled out several documents.
“Richard Kane and Derek Harper are currently developing three real estate projects together.”
“Luxury condos.”
“Total value: about fifty million dollars.”
Elena stared at the papers.
“I don’t understand.”
Patricia leaned forward.
“They needed collateral for their construction loans.”
“The bank requires assets worth at least five million.”
Elena’s heartbeat sped up.
“My house,” she whispered.
Jennifer nodded.
“The house your grandmother left you.”
“It’s worth three million.”
“And because it’s in your name alone…”
