I checked the time.

Again.

It was only ten minutes later than when I’d checked the last time.

Sighing, I dropped down onto the couch, determined to find some way to fill my mind.

Something underneath my butt managed to preoccupy my thoughts…for maybe two seconds.

I frowned as I pulled out a cell phone. Not mine.

“Kaleb’s.”

Had to be.

I rubbed my finger along the surface of it for a moment, nibbling my lower lip. Then I put the phone down and dropped my head back to the couch. He wasn’t here, and I was slowly going out of my mind.

Astra had indeed worked her magic and gotten him a meeting with her cousin Samuel. Whether or not anything solid would happen today, I wasn’t betting on it, but at least they could start the ball rolling.

I’d feel better if I was with him, but Kaleb had told me there was no need for me to go. Something told me that he wanted to go alone.

So I stayed home.

I wasn’t hurt or anything. It wasn’t like he needed me to hold his hand, and our marriage wasn't about a green card for him. Besides, I could use a little more downtime and relaxation before heading back to work next week. I certainly wasn’t going to be getting any over the weekend.

I snorted at the thought and tried to picture how things would go when my dad already looked like he wanted to explode just thinking about Kaleb.

Dad had tried calling, but I’d ignored him.

He’d even broken down and texted even though he'd always insisted that texts were so impersonal. He didn’t even like emails, but understood they were how people communicated these days.

But texts?

Senator Silas Van Allen didn’t text.

But he had sent me one earlier.

You need to stop acting like a child and talk to me. Please join your mother and I for dinner.

I’d responded with a simple question. And Kaleb?

We haven’t been able to spend time with you in several weeks. We need time to catch up. He can join us some other time.

I'd given him a simple answer.

No thank you.

That had set him off, and Mom had taken over from there, but I was ignoring her too.

It was weird how freeing this was. Granted, it was all a farce, and I needed to think through how things would be after this, but for the first time, both my mother and my father had stopped trying to talk through me, stopped looking through me.

Yes, they were angry, but I could handle that.

I couldn’t keep handling how they spent more time worrying about how my life was going to affect theirs.

If they were that hung up on it, they should have had a poodle instead of a daughter.

I checked the time again without any conscious thought, then groaned. It was going to be another hour, maybe two, before he was done with Samuel.

I was about to go out of my mind…

The phone next to me buzzed again and I looked down at it automatically.

A pretty girl’s picture flashed up across the screen, along with the notification that he’d gotten a message.

“Don't do it, Piety,” I muttered to myself.

He was a good-looking guy. He probably got messages from a lot of girls. Of course, he hadn’t told me that he was involved. I hadn’t asked.

But…

I'd married him, and we were having sex. It wasn't just about me, since I knew where we stood with each other. I didn't want to be the other woman. At least that was the excuse I gave myself as I swiped my thumb across the phone to unlock it.

Her name was Camry.

That was the first thing I noticed.

She was also flashing a wide, open grin into the camera.

She looked…happy. Sweet and young and happy.

Who was she?

The phone jolted in my hand as another message came through.

Are you there, K? Come on…I need to know. Things are getting desperate here. You got the money or not?

A strange, heavy sensation settled in my gut, and I closed the messages, putting the phone down.

I knew Kaleb needed money. He’d been honest about that from the beginning. Or had he?

Had he known who I was from moment one? Astra said she remembered how things had gone the night Kaleb and I had gotten married, but how reliable was her memory.

Had Kaleb been playing me this whole time?

And just who the hell was Camry?