Dennis Rowe and his childhood sweetheart had been at each other's throats since they were kids. Neither one ever backed down.

On our wedding day, she decided she couldn't stand to see Dennis happy, so she had me pulled off the road and raped.

Then she had the video played, out loud, in front of everyone at the reception.

At my bedside, Dennis's eyes went red with grief, and he ground his teeth and bolted for the door.

"She can't beat me, so she takes it out on you! Angela Finch, just wait. I'm going to peel the skin off her today!"

But half an hour later, a synced text notification popped up on his tablet.

The sender was pinned at the very top of his list. The photo was Hailey Fox.

A whole screen of filthy messages, and every word cut into my eyes.

Hailey: 【You show up pretending you're here to settle a score, then you pin me against the wall and kiss me. Is that how you avenge your girlfriend?】

Hailey: 【Still, the way you looked at me just now, eyes all red like you wanted to devour me—it's addictive.】

Dennis replied: 【Angela's innocent. She's given up so much for me. I really do love her. We can't keep making this mistake.】

Hailey shot back: 【Fine. Then tonight I'll go spend the night with my boyfriend.】

The next second, Dennis fired off a new message, urgent:

【Don't. Go wait for me at the usual place.】

【As for Angela, I'll treat her well my whole life. I don't want to hurt her. But it seems I… I really can't quit you.】

……

The screen went dark.

I gripped the edge of the blanket and bit down on my lip.

Quick footsteps came down the hall. I shoved the tablet back under my pillow.

I picked up the phone off the nightstand and dialed 911.

The door opened.

Dennis walked in carrying a food container.

He saw the numbers on my screen, lunged over, snatched the phone out of my hand, and pressed the button to end the call.

"Angela, what are you doing! You can't call the police!"

"Give me the phone," I said, cold. "I want Hailey behind bars."

"Have you even thought about it?"

Dennis threw his arms around me.

"The moment they open a case, everything that happened to you goes on the record. Those videos become evidence. They'll play them over and over!"

"The media will know. People online will know. Everyone will look at you like you're something to stare at. I can't put you through that!"

"But she hired men to rape me!"

I pushed him off. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I be the one hiding? I want her to pay!"

Dennis dropped to his knees at the bedside and grabbed my wrist.

"Just leave it to me, all right? I've already taught her a lesson she won't forget."

"I'll make her wish she were dead for the rest of her life. Trust me, please?"

I looked at him, and all at once he felt like a stranger.

Junior year of college, on my birthday.

Hailey poured a full glass of red wine down the front of my white dress.

Dennis shot up out of his chair and flipped the table in front of him.

Plates shattered across the floor.

"Hailey, what is wrong with you!"

Hailey said it was an accident.

Dennis grabbed a beer and dumped the whole bottle over Hailey's head.

"It was an accident too. Get out!"

He smashed the bottle on the floor.

From that day on, I thought he would always keep me behind him, safe.

"You went and hit her?"

Dennis buried his face in the curve of my neck, his shoulders shaking, and didn't answer the question.

"Angela, as long as I'm here, I will never let anyone hurt you again, not even a little. We won't call the police. Let me handle this, okay?"

I lowered my head, about to speak.

And I caught it—a faint scent of lemon and sea salt perfume.

Hailey was the only one who wore that brand.

My eyes drifted down.

Deep inside the slightly open collar of Dennis's shirt was a dark red mark.

"What happened to your neck?"

Dennis followed my gaze and touched it, and his hand went rigid.

He tugged at his collar.

"When I was teaching Hailey a lesson just now, she scratched me."

"Scratched, or kissed?"

His expression wavered.

"Angela, what are you talking about? You're just too worked up right now."

He stood, went to the table, and opened the food container.

"I went to the south side of town and got you your favorite soup. You haven't eaten all day. Have some of the broth first, while it's hot."

He scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and held it to my lips.

That scent of lemon and sea salt drifted over again.

I pushed his hand away.

I leaned over the edge of the bed and started to gag.

Dennis reached out to pat my back.

I slapped his hand away hard. "Don't touch me!"

"Okay, okay, I won't touch you."

He raised both hands and stepped back. "Sweetheart, don't get upset. I'll go get the doctor."

He turned, pulled open the door, and rushed out.

A moment ago I had almost believed he was doing this for my sake.

But the kiss mark on his neck and the messages I'd just read told me the truth, plain and clear.

He wasn't stopping me from calling the police to protect me. He was protecting Hailey.

For the next two weeks, Dennis never left my side at the hospital.

He wiped my face and fed me.

If I so much as turned over in the middle of the night, he'd sit up at once and hold my hand. "Don't be scared. I'm right here."

When the nurse came in on her rounds, she said to me, "Your husband is so good to you. Every time I come by on my night shift, he hasn't shut his eyes."

I looked at Dennis.

"Yes," I said. "He's always been this good to me."

I remembered the morning we went to get our marriage license. Dennis had just put on his suit.

Hailey called, saying her stomach hurt so badly she was rolling on the floor, begging him to hurry over and take her to the hospital.

Dennis shouted into the phone, "If your stomach hurts, call 911! I'm getting married today. The sky could fall and I still wouldn't come!"

Right in front of me, he blocked her number, took my hand, and walked out the door.

I once thought a man like that would love me for the rest of my life.

"Dennis, I want to go to the police."

I brought it up again.

His hands stopped moving.

"Why are you bringing this up again?"

He came to the bedside. "Didn't I already tell you? I've already made her pay for it."

"I can't just swallow this."

Dennis raised his hand and, with a loud crack, slapped himself across the face.

Then another slap.

"It's all my fault!"

He struck himself left and right. "I'm the one who didn't protect you! I'm useless!"

Red handprints rose fast across his face.

"Sweetheart, do you really have to rip the wound open and show it to everyone all over again?"

He grabbed my hand and made me hit his face with it. "Hit me, get it out of your system, just don't go to the police, all right? I'm begging you!"

I pulled my hand back and said nothing.

Dennis crouched on the floor, covering his face, crying.

At eight that evening, his phone rang.

"It's the office. I'll take this outside."

He walked out of the room.

I sat up and picked up the backup phone he'd just put in the drawer.

I opened the ride history in the app.

The morning of our wedding day.

Dennis had suddenly told me there was a big problem with the wedding setup and he needed to get to the hotel early.

He'd had me take a different car.

The record showed he'd been picked up at our complex, and the destination wasn't the hotel at all.

It was Hailey's apartment.

Then I saw the messages between him and Hailey.

Hailey: 【You have to keep Angela calm. Whatever you do, don't let her call the police!】

【You'd better not forget—half the money to hire those thugs came off your card! If she reports it, you don't walk away clean either!】

Dennis: 【I've been by her side for days now. She trusts me. She won't go to the police.】

Hailey: 【Then when are you coming over to me?】

Dennis: 【The second she's asleep.】

My breathing turned shallow, and my fingers wouldn't stop shaking.

He'd left me standing there in my wedding dress and gone to Hailey's bed.

He was the one who'd paid to have me destroyed.

I put the backup phone back in the drawer.

The hospital room door opened.

"Sweetheart, why aren't you asleep yet?"

He came to the bed and tucked the blanket in around me.

"I was about to. The company's swamped, you don't have to stay with me."

"Out of the question. I've already taken the time off. Once you're feeling better, I'll take you somewhere to relax."

Dennis smoothed my hair.

"All right. Let's do the discharge tomorrow, then."

All I wanted now was to leave this place. To leave him.

The day I was discharged, we went home.

The red double-happiness cutouts in the living room had all been stripped away, replaced with beige curtains and a beige rug.

Dennis poured a glass of warm water and set it on the coffee table, then took out his phone and tapped a few times.

My phone buzzed.

A bank text. Twenty thousand dollars deposited.

"Sweetheart, take this twenty thousand. Buy yourself some clothes, some jewelry, whatever you like. From now on I'll hand over my whole paycheck to you every month."

Dennis sat down beside me.

"Keep it. I don't need money."

I was about to send it back when he stopped me.

"Take it. I want to make it up to you."

Just then came a knock at the door.

Dennis frowned, stood, and went to answer it.

Hailey stood outside in a bright red slip dress.

"Well, well. Heard Angela got discharged, so I came to pay my respects."

She craned her neck to peer into the apartment.

Dennis blocked the doorway. "What are you doing here? Get lost!"

"Dennis, why are you standing in my way?"

Hailey let out a laugh. "Afraid she'll fall apart if she sees me?"

Dennis seized her wrist, yanked her out into the hall, and slammed the door shut with a bang.

The two of them were in this together, and here they were putting on a show like they couldn't stand each other.

I wanted to know exactly how they carried on behind my back.

I got up, went to the door, and pressed my eye to the peephole.

The hallway's motion light was on.

Hailey shook off his grip and jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Dennis, what's with the attitude?"

She lowered her voice. "What, you feel sorry for her, seeing her like that?"

Dennis grabbed her finger. "I told you to leave her alone!"

Hailey gave a cold laugh. "Don't forget—the getaway money for those thugs came from you!"

"If you can't handle her and she goes to the cops, we all go down together!"

"Fine. I'll go in right now and tell her exactly where you were on our wedding night—"

Hailey stepped forward as if to grab the door handle.

"Shut your mouth!"

Dennis hauled her back and pinned her hard against the white hallway wall.

He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his.

Hailey braced both hands against his chest, gave a token push or two, then wound her arms around his neck.

Right there outside the door, the two of them tangled together in plain sight.

His hand even slid up under the hem of her dress.

I let go of the door handle and stepped back.