At first, Joel was openly hostile toward Maya.

He felt Maya was too central to my world, taking up too much of my time and attention.

I'd forget his birthday or our anniversary, but I remembered every single one of Maya's important dates without fail.

The gifts I bought for Joel were usually an afterthought while I was shopping for her.

If Maya called while I was on a date with Joel, I'd drop everything and leave.

Honestly, in my heart back then, Maya's cat was probably more important than Joel.

Growing up watching my parents’ toxic marriage, I’d long given up on the idea of love from any man.

Whether they were after my looks or my family's fortune, the eyes of my suitors were just mirrors reflecting their own selfish desires.

I only agreed to date Joel on a whim, after Maya casually mentioned I was too clingy and should try a relationship. Yet, he became the only man who ever managed to get under my skin.

When he looked at me, there was no calculation in his eyes.

There was only me.

For years, it stayed that way.

He would do anything to make me happy.

And he never demanded anything in return, not like my mother, who would shriek about what she was owed.

So, after realizing how important Maya was to me, Joel didn't try to poison my mind against her or drive a wedge between us like everyone else.

Instead, he started relentlessly setting her up with eligible men he found on Hinge and Bumble.

Predictably, Maya basked in the attention and no longer had time to meddle in my life.

Glancing at another missed call from Maya, I sighed and took the itinerary for our date that Joel handed me.

"So, this is your grand plan to score a date with me? Setting Maya up with every guy on your phone?"

"Maya won't just date anyone, you know. What happens when you run out of guys?"

Joel just smiled, wrapping a cashmere scarf around my neck.

"Then I'll download more apps. We'll see who gives out first: Maya from dumping men, or me from finding them."

"Even if she burns through every man in New York City, it won't matter."

"I have friends on the West Coast, friends in Europe."

"And if all else fails, I've got a few handsome cousins."

He made me laugh.

For the first time, a strange warmth stirred in my chest.

So, this was love? Not just passion, but endless patience and… strategy?

My parents had never taught me that. Maya couldn't have either.

It was Joel who made me want to learn how to love.

We were together for seven years, and for all seven of those years, Joel kept finding new men for Maya.

I just couldn't wrap my head around what possessed him to climb into her bed.

And how did Joel, a man who was with me nearly twenty-four-seven, manage to keep it a perfect secret?

I saved the security footage and had my assistant, Evelyn, pull all the surveillance from my home and office.

Evelyn and her team spent two hours poring over the footage and found nothing.

It was as if the whole thing had been a waking nightmare.

But I had a gut feeling I was about to find out exactly where they'd been having their affair.

The dashcam footage amounted to several gigabytes of files, mostly audio clips from inside the car.

My assistant, Evelyn, spoke cautiously. "Maggie, the earliest files on the memory card are from two years ago."

I knew what she was implying.

The first time I heard them on the recording, their rhythm was already practiced, fluid.

They had been doing this for far longer than I could have imagined.

I clicked open an audio file.

Of course. The timestamp matched my weekly therapy session on the Upper West Side.

The day my mother killed herself, during my senior year of college, she came to have a meal with me.

She’d cooked it herself.

I had never eaten a meal she’d made. Her life revolved around holding on to my father, especially after his string of affairs.

A home-cooked meal from my mother… something I once thought I no longer needed.

But when it was right there in front of me, I realized I was still that little girl, desperate for her mother to look at her just once.

I let my guard down so easily.

Then, right in front of me, she swallowed the entire bottle of pills.

Thank God Joel arrived when he did.

He’d been cooking and bringing me food for years.

By the time the paramedics loaded me into the ambulance, my mother wasn't breathing.

Her last words, spat at me with a twisted face, were: "If I hadn't given birth to you, I would never have ended up like this, a woman your father despises."

From then on, I had to see a therapist twice a week.

Joel drove me every single time.

And in that one-hour window, he and Maya would have their affair in his car.

The latest recording was from a week before the wedding.

I heard Maya light a cigarette, her voice a lazy drawl.

"We should probably stop after the wedding."

Joel chuckled. "What, doubting my stamina? You don't think I can handle both of you?"

Maya sighed. "I just feel like it isn't fair to Maggie."

Joel scoffed. "You didn't say it was unfair when you got drunk and unbuckled my belt."

"You didn't say it was unfair when you kept coming on to me, again and again."

"You didn't say it was unfair when you were screaming my name."

I heard the sound of a hand moving, a rustle of fabric, followed by her sharp, stifled gasp.

"Admit it. No one else makes you feel like this."

"If we stop, you'll never feel anything like this again."

Maya's voice was fractured.

"But I... I don't want Maggie to get hurt."

"We both know how much she despises cheaters. Her father is proof enough of that."

Joel laughed softly.

"I love Maggie more than you do. The last thing I want is for her to get hurt."

"That's why I can't be rough with her, not the way I am with you."

"If you leave, and I lose control and find someone else, what if she's not as careful as you? What if she doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut, how to never let it get back to Maggie?"

"Maya, us staying together is the best way to protect Maggie. Don't you see?"

A long silence stretched on. Finally, she whispered.

"Yes. We're doing this for Maggie."

The computer screen went black.

Evelyn watched my face, her own expression unreadable.

"Maggie, should I cancel the wedding?"

I touched the faint scar on my wrist and shook my head.

"No. We've prepared for too long. It would be a shame to cancel."

"But do me a favor. Book a makeup artist for Maya."