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AS THE FADING LIGHT of day turned to gray, Sienna waited. She sat on the sofa in their living room, in the dark, with only the shadows to keep her company. An empty bottle of Chianti lay next to her, drops of ruby splattered over the creamy leather like scattered jewels. But Sienna didn’t care—about the spilled wine, the stained leather, that she was close to drunk, nor the chance that she was bound to have a killer headache in the morning. None of those things were important. Nothing mattered except the revelation that her husband had raped her best friend, and her marriage had been a lie.
She blamed herself for not seeing the signs, for not seeing through her husband’s quick charm to the twisted man that lies beneath.
Her mind spun in circles, from the wine or the reality she had only begun to face, she wasn’t quite sure, but she kept circling back to the point when Lexie told her about the rape, to finding the phone under the bed in her apartment, to confirming it was Brent’s.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch. If only it was just a dream—a nightmare.
The familiar sound of a key in lock chinked outside the door, and her eyes flew open. Seconds later, Brent stepped inside, and she remained surprisingly calm, much to the wine’s credit.
He threw his keys on the side table in his usual brusque manner. He didn’t loosen his tie, didn’t remove his jacket. Always in control, Brent wasn’t the type of man to unwind after a hard day’s work with a beer. Instead, he was always at his best, dressed in expensive suits, his hair perfectly gelled, his demeanor cold and professional. As Sienna watched him approach the living room, she wondered how she ever fell in love with him.
He walked into the room, ready to pass through, into the hall—most likely toward their bedroom.
“Why?” Sienna’s voice pierced the quiet night. She looked at the large shape of him, his angular jaw, a face distorted in the dark, revealing him for the villain he really was.
He turned toward her, and even in the dark, she could see his glare, the disapproval. “You should know better than to sit out here hiding in the dark. There’s a fabulous invention called electricity.”
He started to walk away from her, but she wasn’t going to let him get away that easy. “Did you really think I would never find out?”
Brent stopped in his tracks and turned. His dark eyes were cold, and his displeasure that Sienna was keeping him from his evening routine, flickered over his face. “Find out what?” he asked, his tone dismissive.
Sienna stared at him, her face a neutral canvas. “About Lexie. You raped her.”
Brent snorted, his expression smug in the dark. He said nothing, but instead, turned around and walked out of the room.
But Sienna went after him. She caught him in the hallway and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him around, her earlier calm forgotten. “You are not going to walk away!” Her voice echoed off the walls. “You’re not going to pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I want you to admit it,” she said between clenched teeth, her breathing shallow. “I want you to look me in the eye and tell me what you’ve done.”
He went to reach for her, but she shoved violently at his arms, and a smile curled his lips as if amused. “She wanted it, asked for it even. She always was an uppity whore. I taught her a lesson. She didn’t get anything she didn’t deserve.” He sneered.
“She was my friend.” Sienna’s eyes widened, incredulous at the audacity of his words. “You’re not going to get away with this,” she said, her voice frantic.
Brent snickered. “Yeah? Who’s going to stop me? You?” He laughed before he sobered and pointed at her. “Don’t even think about doing anything stupid. What’s done is done. There’s nothing you or anyone can do about it.”
Sienna blinked, fighting back tears. He showed no remorse, no shame at getting caught, only defiance and amusement. “We’ve been married for over six years. How long did you hide from me? How long did you pretend not to be a monster?”
Brent’s smile was faint, but his eyes glittered darkly. “I was always this way. You were just too stupid to notice. You wanted a baby so bad you saw nothing else.”
Sienna flinched; his words were like a slap in the face.
When he turned his back to her and stepped into the bathroom, her rage wrapped around her, squeezing tight like a vice. She flew at him, clawing at his suit coat like an animal, pounding her fists into his back.
Her vision turned red as she poured all the wasted years, the life she lost, into her fists. But Brent was bigger and stronger. So when he whirled around and brought the back of his hand across her face, he knocked her off her feet into the hallway.
He stepped after her, hitting her once more.
Sienna fell to the floor. Fire blazed over the left side of her face, and for a moment, she saw black before her vision doubled, then cleared.
“Like I said, there’s nothing you’re gonna do about it,” Brent said. Then he spat on the ground in front of him where Sienna crouched, cupping the side of her face.
“Did you ever love me?” she asked, her voice shaking with the effort. “Was it ever real?”
“Of course. And I still do.” He dropped his hand and straightened, gesturing around the room. “All of this, everything we have, is still yours.” Then he strode back into the bathroom and closed the door.
This was his version of love? Sienna bit her lip, swallowing the thought. She would not cry.
She tried to pull herself up, but dizziness washed over her, making her feet untrustworthy, so she used the wall to prop herself up, sliding from one room to the next. Then she managed to get to her purse, where she rummaged through the items until her hand met with the cool plastic of her phone. Taking a steady breath, she punched three numbers into the phone and waited, until the operator answered.
“911. What’s your emergency?”