July 4—two years later
Nina sat at her dressing table in a black silk robe as her beauty team prepped her for the party.
“You asked to see me, Mrs. Levitt?”
Steve Kovacs, her security consultant, stood in the doorway of the dressing room. He was a six-foot-four ex-marine, ex–NYPD officer with a flattened nose, who’d worked for her on and off for years. She expected three hundred guests tonight, so Steve had brought in five off-duty cops to work security. They’d check invitations and keep out trespassers, but now she had a more delicate assignment for Steve. She wasn’t sure she trusted him with it, but she had no choice. She needed backup or she wouldn’t feel safe.
“Take a break,” she told her hairdresser and makeup artist.
When they’d gone, she got up and checked the adjacent bedroom. Connor had been avoiding her all day and was still nowhere to be seen. He must sense what was coming.
There was no one moment when Nina discovered that Connor was cheating—in violation of their prenup, and every promise he’d ever made to her. The knowledge of it filtered through her skin like osmosis. She knew him so intimately. Everything about him—his body, his turns of phrase, the way he made love. She didn’t need to read his private emails or mistakenly receive a text meant for someone else. She noticed every subtle change. The faint whiff of a strange perfume as he took off his shirt. A new rhythm to his speech. An echo of another woman in the way he touched Nina’s body. This other woman haunted Nina like a ghost. She had to run her to the ground.
Lauren was the obvious suspect. They had a history, and maybe it wasn’t exactly over when Connor and Nina got together. Connor’s current position as vice president for North American development for Levitt Global required regular consulting with the head of PR. His meetings with Lauren always seemed to get scheduled for late in the day—too late to travel back to Windswept, where Nina slept. He’d wind up staying at the apartment in the city. Did he think this was her first rodeo? Nina had to sell her old apartment to get rid of the stench from all the women Edward brought there, on nights when he supposedly worked too late to make it home to the East End. She’d bought a new apartment for herself, and she liked it enough that she made sure to put safeguards in place. The doormen and the housekeeper were paid to report on Connor, whenever he was there without her. So far, he hadn’t brought anyone there. That didn’t mean he was faithful, just that he was careful.
Maybe the other woman wasn’t Lauren. Nina’s attention had shifted to a second suspect, one who cut more deeply. Dawn. The person on earth to whom Nina felt closest, after Connor, based on years of practicing yoga together, which to Nina was something intimate and spiritual. Dawn was beautiful enough to turn any man’s head. Willowy, long mahogany hair—she looked like a ballerina. Early on, Nina had worried that Connor and Dawn would like each other too much, but then it had been the complete opposite. They openly feuded and mistrusted each other. Connor claimed Dawn’s schtick was just a bunch of woo-woo nonsense, that she was a bad influence, sucking Nina dry with a charlatan’s efficiency. Dawn said even worse things about Connor—he was a fraud, after Nina’s money. Was it just a cover? The investigator hadn’t been able to substantiate anything between Connor and Dawn. That didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
Unsatisfied with the answers she was getting, Nina fired that investigator and hired a new one to root out the truth, and it turned out to be more than she’d bargained for. The new person had proved much more effective than the one from two years ago who’d cleared Connor of involvement in his girlfriend’s disappearance. That was either incompetence or a whitewash—probably the latter. There was a conspiracy underway against her. She didn’t know how far it went, but it was going to end tonight.
“I know you have your hands full with the guests,” she said to Steve as she shut the door. “But something has come up that I need your help with. It’s confidential, and rather delicate.”
“Any way I can be of service. Confidentiality is a given. If you don’t want to take my word for it, I signed an NDA when I came to work for you.”
“Right. What I’m about to share with you is covered by that, obviously.”
“Of course.”
She unlocked the top drawer of her dressing table and handed him the investigator’s file.
“Read this. It’ll give you the background.”
He sat down on the bench and opened the folder. His face slackened with surprise as he read.
“This is true?” Steve said, looking up at Nina with shock in his eyes. “Jeez, you think you know people.”
She looked away, not wanting him to see the shine of tears in her eyes.
“I thought so, too. But I’ve learned that a woman in my position can’t trust anyone. Not even the people closest to her.”
“But … why? What’s their play?”
“The obvious. They want my money. They want me out of the picture.”
“Tell me what you want me to do,” Steve said.
“I’m initiating divorce proceedings against my husband, and I’m going to need your assistance with safely removing him from my property.”
He got to his feet. “I’ll go grab him now. Throw him out before the party starts.”
“Just—hold on a minute. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
The dressing-room window looked over the terrace, where a tent had been set up in case of rain. The band must’ve arrived already. Nina couldn’t see them, but she could hear them tuning and doing mic checks. The guests would begin arriving any minute. Some were actual journalists. Others had big Twitter followings, or just big mouths. Nina had spent twenty-five long years getting humiliated in the press by Edward’s infidelities. This split was going to happen on her terms, which meant quietly.
“The timing of the investigator’s report is unfortunate,” she said. “Now that I know, I have to take immediate action, and yet, I don’t want a scene. I’d prefer to go through with the party like nothing is wrong. Once the guests have left, that’s when I’ll confront Connor, with you present. In the coming days, I’ll have a publicist make a discreet announcement that we’ve separated.”
“Due respect, ma’am, that’s not smart. From what the report says, this has been going on for a very long time. They knew each other from way back—”
“Exactly. This has been going on for years, so why make a move tonight, with hundreds of people around, including you and your team? All I ask is that you keep an eye on him. As soon as the guests are gone, you escort him to my office. My lawyer gave me the divorce papers. I’ll ask you to serve them, then you’ll escort Connor off the property.”
“If that’s how you want to play it.”
“It is.”
Steve looked troubled.
“What’s wrong?” she said.
“I need you to understand that it may not be possible to monitor him every second.”
“He’s not going to attack me in front of a crowd.”
Steve shrugged. “My expert opinion is, people do crazy shit. But this is your call, ma’am.”
“I’m not worried. I have everything under control.”