Cassie was trembling—her arms, her legs, her chest. She couldn’t breathe. Everyone was staring at her, their pity shrouding her like a dirty blanket as T.J. stormed from the room.

She hung her head and covered her face with her hands, fighting back the need to cry.

“Come with me.”

A feminine hand came to rest on Cassie’s back and she raised her gaze to find Shay standing beside her.

“It’s going to be okay.” Zoe approached. “We’ll sort this out.”

No. She shook her head. It wouldn’t be okay. It wouldn’t get sorted out. T.J. had made it perfectly clear he no longer wanted her. He’d seen through her disguise, humiliated her and demanded she leave.

“Trust me.” Shay placed pressure on Cassie’s back, guiding her forward. “Let’s go upstairs where it’s quiet.”

All Cassie wanted to do was go home. But her house was filled with loneliness and despair. There was nobody there to comfort her. With a silent nod, she allowed them to lead her into the main room, bypassing the curious stares of patrons and straight past the secured door. The change rooms were a blur. The staircase upstairs was taken with no memory at all. They reached the deserted Shot of Sin bar and wordlessly guided her onto a stool.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Zoe asked, rubbing her warm palm in circles over the nakedness of Cassie’s upper back.

“Come on, honey.” Shay slid a glass of water over the bar, the swatch of lace over her eyes still perfectly in place. “You can tell us.”

The burn of humiliation heated Cassie’s cheeks. These were the last people she should tell. The thought of even explaining to Jan when she got home stung more than she could bear.

“I know I don’t look suitably dressed,” Shay continued. “But I’ve worked here for a while. I’m sure whatever happened with T.J. was a misunderstanding. Usually, he’s a really nice guy. He’s just going through a rough patch at the moment.”

Rough patch? It was demeaning that the destruction of Cassie’s marriage could be described in such simple terms. “I know.” She met the sympathy in the bartender’s expression. “I also know who you are, Shay.”

The woman frowned and ceased pouring the glass of wine she’d been preparing. “I’m sorry,” she spoke with a cautionary tone and slipped the strip of lace covering her eyes to her forehead, scrutinizing Cassie, “but I can’t place your face under the disguise.”

“We’ve never actually met.” Cassie grasped the bottom of her mask and sighed as she lifted the covering from her face. She shouldn’t be doing this. These were T.J.’s friends. His support network. Not hers.

“I’ve heard a lot about you through my husband.” She raised the mask over her head and met the bartenders gaze. “I’m T.J.’s wife, Cassie.”

Shay’s eyes widened, but it was Zoe’s gasp that made Cassie swivel on her stool. “I’m sorry I lied about my name. I didn’t want to risk being thrown out.”

Zoe shook her head, her lips gaping. “I’m not offended. I’m shocked T.J.’s married. He’s never made it known to guests. I always assumed he was single.”

He hadn’t made his marriage known. In a sex club, surrounded by women and men grasping for carnality and pleasure, he hadn’t told the members he was taken. Nobody knew of their love. Why did that knowledge fill her with horror?

“Don’t panic.” Zoe reached out a hand and squeezed Cassie’s shoulder. “I’ve never seen him with anyone. I rarely see him downstairs at all. It was merely an assumption.”

Cassie played with the elastic band on her mask, occupying her hands because she had no control over her mind.

“I didn’t know until recently either,” Shay added. “I think he’s far too much of a gentleman to share his personal details in a work environment.”

Yes, maybe that was it. He’d admitted long ago that he didn’t want her being a part of the sex club. Not until they had measures in place to safeguard the identity of everyone involved.

“He’s protective.” Cassie lowered her gaze to her lap, threading the elastic through her fingers. “I used to attend work functions years ago. But once they started chatting about opening Vault of Sin, T.J. wanted me as far away from the business as possible. He didn’t want to risk my involvement if the privacy of the club was ever breeched.”

“Hold up.” Shay leaned forward, into Cassie’s periphery. “If he’s so protective, why did he let you in tonight? What was the fight about?”

Cassie met the woman’s gaze with a wince. “He didn’t let me in. I used a fake ID.”

“Oh, shit. Brute is gonna be pissed that you slipped past him.”

“Not as pissed as T.J. was when he found out he was kissing his wife instead of a stranger.”

Shay’s mouth gaped. “He didn’t know?”

Cassie shook her head and grabbed the front of her hairpiece. “I went to a lot of effort to make myself unrecognizable.” She pulled the wig off her head and placed it on the bar. “I’m blonde.” She mussed her hair, trying to form some semblance of normality from the plastered-down strands she could see in the mirror behind the bar. “Everything about me is different. Apart from the weight. Although, I have dropped a dress size since my husband informed me of the divorce.”

“Was this retaliation?” Zoe asked, sliding onto a stool.

“God, no.”

“Then what?” Zoe’s tone was gentle, the soft lilt filled with comfort and concern. “Why turn up at his sex club and pretend you’re someone else?”

“Because I love him.” Cassie hung her head. “I don’t want a divorce, and with every part of me, I know T.J. doesn’t either.”

“Then why would he request it?”

“It’s complicated.” She gave a derisive laugh. “Yet simplistic, too. We both made a mistake that he takes full credit for. He thinks he let me down. He’s too defensive when it comes to my wellbeing.”

“Okay.” Shay cleared her throat. “You’re going to have to go into more depth than that. I need deets.”

Tension built in Cassie’s chest, the need to bare her soul itched to break free. Nobody in her day-to-day life would understand. These women were the closest she would get to a knowledgeable sounding board, and she needed to rid herself of the guilt from the past. “My marriage with T.J. was nothing but flawless—”

“Really?” Shay drawled in disbelief.

“Let me finish. We rarely fought. We meshed perfectly. He gave me everything I needed from a lover and a friend, and I tried to give him the same in return.” The women were staring at her, clinging to her every word. “I learned a lot about myself because of him. Sexually speaking, I mean.”

She cleared the discomfort from her throat. “As a new couple, we tried everything and anything. As time went on, we began pushing boundaries. I had limited experience when we first met, and T.J. opened my eyes to the possibilities. He made me feel comfortable fantasizing about things that aren’t society’s standard of normal.”

“Like?”

Cassie shrugged. “It started off simple, with sex toys and classy porn.”

“Classy porn?” Zoe raised a brow, a smile brightening her features. “Is that even a thing?”

“Well, there’s dirty porn and there’s the stuff with the faintest hint of a romantic storyline. Neither have good acting.”

Zoe chuckled. “Okay. Carry on.”

“That evolved into light BDSM, but apart from T.J.’s usual dominance, it wasn’t our scene. We started talking about other topics like voyeurism and exhibitionism. It was around the same time the Vault was being discussed as a possible form of revenue for the business.” Cassie waved the conversation away. “I’m rambling. You guys don’t want to hear all this.”

“Of course we do.” Shay grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge underneath the far side of the bar. “I’ll even provide refreshments.”

The verbal purge didn’t seem to be lessening the tight hold on Cassie’s heart. It wasn’t helping. Yet neither would going home to a lonely house. “To cut a long story relatively short, the reason T.J. is leaving me is because we decided to go to our first sex club about a year ago. It was out of the blue. Unplanned. In fact, we were out of town, staying in Brute’s Tampa apartment. In Florida, people are open to much more than they are here. So, we went to a club on a whim… The worst whim of my life.”

“You didn’t like it?” Shay paused in the middle of pouring the first of three wine glasses on the bar.

“I don’t think the first time is ever easy,” Zoe added. “Even more so when you’re in an established relationship and have to consider the possibility of how it could affect your future together.”

“It was a disaster.” Cassie sucked in a breath, held it until the pain took over the nerves in her belly, then released it in a rush. “It was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Shay cringed. “It’s not for everyone. Hell, even I was disgusted to begin with.”

“That wasn’t the half of it.” She wrung her hands together in her lap, wiping the sweat from her palms. “For starters, I’d glamorized the thought of a sex club. I anticipated seduction and passion. Fine furnishings and men who cherished their women like T.J. cherished me. The place we went to was cold, dank and sleazy.”

“That’s not good.” Shay slid a glass of wine toward Cassie and another in front of Zoe.

“T.J. wanted to leave straightaway. I could sense his annoyance. But the surprising conditions didn’t curb my curiosity. We were out of town, finally in a place where I wouldn’t feel nervous about my friends and family finding out about our sexual tendencies.” Cassie placed the mask on the bar beside the wig and grabbed for the wine glass. “We’d been talking about going to a club for so long…work had already started on the Vault. And even though the scene was far from erotic, I wanted to understand what a sex club was all about. There had to be a reason why women were there, right? So, I begged T.J. to hang around, just for one drink.”

She sipped her wine, the sweet taste exploding over her tongue in complete contrast to the liquid she remembered consuming that night in Tampa. The bartender—dressed in a frayed wife-beater and ill-fitting silk boxers—had leered at her as he handed over the soda glass filled with cheap wine. He was just one of many men who’d eyed her like a dish they were determined to taste.

“T.J. didn’t drink. He stayed at my side, his hand always protectively placed on my hip as we watched men rut like dogs in heat. There was no seduction. No interest in pleasuring anyone but themselves. The women were merely a vessel to be used.”

“Drugged?” Shay asked.

Zoe swiveled in the stool, her knee grazing Cassie’s thigh. “Paid escorts, I’d assume.”

“Yeah.” Cassie gave Zoe a nod. “Apparently, it’s not uncommon. T.J. had murmured in my ear that some clubs who can’t obtain willing female clientele actually pay escorts to attend. So, in retrospect, I was like the rainbow unicorn—the one willing female who had turned up to this sleazy place without monetary compensation.” She shrugged off the stupidity, because she hadn’t even broached the worst part. “I made a vain attempt to salvage the night. I ignored our surroundings and tried my hardest to feel sexy as I stripped to my underwear. But my halfhearted attempt to get T.J. in the mood didn’t work.”

The humiliation of going down on a husband that couldn’t get hard was just as potent as how naïve she’d felt walking into an environment she had no right being in. “After twenty minutes inside that place, I’d lost all hope of exploring this part of our sexuality.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Zoe placed a hand on Cassie’s shoulder. “You can’t judge the lifestyle by one seedy club.”

Cassie ran her finger mindlessly through the ring of condensation left on the bar from her glass. Time hadn’t dimmed the memory of that night. It was the first regretful moment of her married life. One that had sparked a continuous tally of devastation.

“It gets worse,” she uttered. “Our apartment was a half-hour drive away, so I decided to use the bathroom before we left. T.J. did the same. It was the first time he’d strayed from my side, and he wasn’t happy about it either. He told me he’d be waiting right outside the bathroom door once he finished, and that I shouldn’t speak to anyone while we were separated.”

She stared at the polished bar, seeing the memory replay in her mind. T.J. had been pale with concern, extinguishing the adrenaline in her veins and replacing it with fear. He’d clutched her biceps, reiterating that she wasn’t to speak to anyone. Not even the women.

She’d nodded, and done as he requested, entering the empty bathroom and using the facilities as quickly as possible. She’d been poised to flush the toilet when the swing of the bathroom door had announced someone else had entered. As she’d clutched her handbag to her waist, she’d opened the stall door, prepared to keep her head low while she washed her hands and then get straight back to T.J.’s side.

“A man followed me into the bathroom.” He’d been one of the younger men, somewhere in his late twenties, she guessed. Tall and scrawny with the glaze of a drug-fueled high in his eyes. “At first, I thought maybe he was disoriented. That he’d picked the wrong bathroom. But he showed no shock at seeing me walk from the stall. He’d known I was in there.”

The recollection was vivid. He’d had oily blond hair and a sharp, bird-like nose. His eyes had been devoid of emotion, light blue and feral. There’d been no defining scars, only a permanent frown on his forehead. But his boxer briefs were what she remembered most. Probably because the image of his erection pressing against the crotch still made nausea creep up her throat.

“I smiled, somewhat nervously, as I approached the basin to wash my hands. I joked about him being in the wrong bathroom. Although something inside me was screaming to run, I didn’t want to act like a fool in case he’d made a genuine mistake.” Her ears filled with silence, her mind consumed with memories. “He made no move to leave. Instead, he approached me. And again, I did nothing. I kept denying what was clearly happening. I didn’t think that a man would ever try to hurt me in a public place with my husband in the bathroom next door.”

It had been too blatant to be real. Nobody could be that stupid. But apparently, she had been. “He started talking, his words slurred as he asked what my plans were for the night. He wanted to know why I was there. If I was unsatisfied with my current lover since it was obvious T.J. wasn’t in the mood.”

She’d washed her hands, tracking him in the mirror as he continued to approach. “He’d been watching us. Me. And my pathetic attempts to try and go down on T.J.” It made her feel dirty, but there still hadn’t been any confirmed threat, nothing apart from intuition screaming at her to leave. “I assured him I was there out of curiosity, and that I’d decided this was no longer a lifestyle choice I was interested in. I began to walk for the door when he stepped in front of me, blocking my path.”

He’d seemed to ponder her words as his gaze raked her body in a way she’d never experienced before. He was sizing her up, determining something she couldn’t or didn’t want to understand. “I didn’t want to scream. I had already started blaming myself. If I hadn’t gone there, this man wouldn’t have had the wrong impression of me. He thought I was an easy lay, and I wasn’t. I tried to talk him down, assuring him I wouldn’t be going back into the main room.”

His eyes had been vacant, icy-blue irises that reflected an empty soul. The first step he’d taken toward her had made her realize she needed to act. It finally sank in. He was a threat and she needed to get out of there. “I’m not interested.” She’d raised her chin and glared at him as her head had begun to pound with too many thoughts to comprehend what to do. Did she try to hurt him? Did she run? Was T.J. right outside the door like he’d promised, or had something happened to him too? “I’ll scream.”

“Hey.” Zoe’s hand came to rest on Cassie’s back again, rubbing in soothing circles. “You’re safe now.”

Cassie tried to shake away the nightmare, but he kept approaching. “It didn’t go much further.” She didn’t want to relive the way his hand had lashed out, climbing under her loose skirt to tear away her G-string before she could scream. “I called for help, and T.J. was there in an instant. My husband was unrecognizable, his expression contorted in anguish and rage as he threw the guy to the floor and started pounding his fists into the man’s face. Again and again and again. More people entered the room as the bastard on the floor stopped fighting back.”

Cassie met the distraught features of each woman in turn, both of them riveted by her story. “They had to drag T.J. off him.” He’d been rabid. Crazed. “He was yelling as they hauled him from the building. His voice was so loud, demanding they let go, shouting for them to get their hands off me as they yanked me along after him. Their greedy palms touching me in places I wish I could forget.”

She didn’t remember how they arrived back at the apartment, and the memories after that were like photographs. Snapshots. She’d sat on the shower floor, hugging her knees to her chest as the water cascaded over her body. The darkness of the room as she lay in bed, while the sound of T.J. vomiting carried from the bathroom. The muted plane ride home. And the silence they’d both shared for the weeks that followed.

“He wanted to call the police. That night, he even drove to a nearby police station. But I couldn’t do it.” She squeezed her eyes shut briefly. “There were too many reasons to keep my mouth shut. I’d placed myself in that position. I’d been stupid. I know it doesn’t excuse what happened. I just couldn’t risk public scrutiny either. My family would’ve been devastated. I would’ve lost my job or been pressured to quit from the nastiness of others. But the determining factor was Vault of Sin. T.J., Leo and Brute are loyal men. I didn’t want them to contemplate abandoning their plans for the private part of the club to spare my dignity. So, I told T.J. I didn’t want anyone knowing. Not the police, not family and definitely not our business partners.”

They’d never discussed what happened with anyone. T.J. had barely mentioned the night in the last twelve months. Yet, she refused to feel guilty about opening her mouth now. If it meant saving her marriage, she’d disclose every last detail, her pride and reputation be damned.

“That asshole deserves to be shot,” Shay seethed.

Cassie inclined her head. “Yeah. It wasn’t the best experience I’ve ever had. Then again, I was lucky T.J. saved me. It just wasn’t enough for him. He blames himself, and I think what happened destroyed him more than me. I never truly got him back after that night.”

He hadn’t been able to look at her for weeks. He couldn’t touch her without his eyes glazing as he lost himself to hindsight. In his mind, the blame over not researching the club rested solely on his shoulders, with him unwilling to let her take any responsibility. He considered it his own weakness for succumbing to the temptation of exposing her to something new. He thrived on broadening her sex life and wouldn’t forgive himself for rushing in unprepared.

“A month passed before he started sleeping on the couch, claiming he didn’t want to keep me awake with his restlessness. That night turned into every night until I started noticing the spare bed was being slept in. Six months later, he moved out.”

“I need to clear my head. Just a few days. Maybe a week.”

He’d been exceptionally agitated the day he’d walked from their home. As if the months of guilt had collided, and she’d had no desire to hurt him more by making him stay.

“I don’t know what to say,” Shay whispered.

Cassie met her gaze and winced at the sorrow shining back at her. “There’s nothing to say. I didn’t want to believe he was serious about the divorce, but after tonight, I think it’s clear he can’t get over the past. He’s never looked at me in anger before.”

She sipped her wine, uncomfortable in the silence with these women who were practically strangers. The chatter of people in the distance was all she could hear until footsteps echoed up the Vault staircase, the pounding getting louder.

“Quick,” Shay blurted. “Put the wig back on. The mask, too.”

Cassie’s heart throttled to high speed. Although T.J. knew she was here, she didn’t want anyone else to find out.

As Shay straightened and Zoe turned to face the stairway, Cassie hitched the fake hair back into position and slid the mask into place. She was still straightening the stray strands of hair sticking out at odd angles when the footsteps stopped.

“Ladies.” Leo’s honeyed tone filled her belly with nerves. “There seems to be a misunderstanding that I need to get to the bottom of.” The pounding of his shoes against the floor sounded again, getting closer and closer. “T.J. is under the impression someone paid an escort to seduce him.”

What? Cassie’s gaze snapped to Shay, hoping to gain some understanding while she kept her back to her business partner.

“I thought you said he knew you were here,” Zoe muttered under her breath.

He did. T.J. had whispered her name as they’d kissed. Right before he’d demanded she leave.

“Shay.” The name was a deeply masculine growl. “Please tell me you don’t know anything about this. I assured T.J. my adorably sweet girlfriend wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk her job by getting involved.”

Shay released a nervous chuckle. “Honey, you say the nicest things, but your tone implies you don’t think I’m that sweet.”

“Yeah,” he grated. “I should work on that.”

Shay strode around the bar and sauntered toward Leo. Cassie swiveled in her stool, keeping her face shadowed by her hair as Shay stopped in front of her boyfriend and leaned to whisper something in his ear.

As the faint hint of her words drifted forward, Leo’s scrutinizing gaze snapped to Cassie. His frown deepened, the wrinkles increasing with each passing second until Shay stepped back.

“What’s going on here?” Leo approached, shoving his hands in his pockets in a vain attempt to appear nonchalant.

Zoe scooted to the side of her stool, turning her knees into Cassie. “If you want to leave right now, no questions asked, just tell me. I’ll escort you out. You don’t need to speak to him. We can go somewhere else and talk about this.”

We. Such a simple word, yet the friendship behind it brought an explosion of warmth through Cassie’s body. “Thank you, but I think he deserves to know why I caused the scene downstairs.”

Zoe inclined her head. “It’s up to you.”

Cassie removed her mask and checked her reflection in the mirror across the bar. There wouldn’t be any beauty awards heading her way in the near future, and even without the mask, she was still barely recognizable.

She pushed from the stool and straightened her shoulders as she faced Leo, a man she’d met numerous times but didn’t claim to know well enough to anticipate how he’d react. She gave him a sad smile and pulled off her wig, exposing the blonde hair beneath.

He squinted at her, his gaze raking her face, then lower, all the way to her high-heel-covered toes.

“Fake nails.” She placed the wig on the bar and wiggled her fingers. “Fake tan.” She indicated her body with a wave of her hand. “Contact lenses.” She pointed to her eyes. “All of it’s fake.”

“Oh, shit.” His voice was barely audible. “Cassie? Is that really you?”

She gave a regretful nod. “Hi, Leo.”

“Jesus Christ.” He massaged his forehead and began to pace. “I need to tell him.”

“No.” Cassie scooted forward, her heels tapping frantically along the floor. “Wait.” She grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. “What did you mean when you said T.J. thinks someone paid an escort?”

“I mean exactly that, Cass. He’s down there, almost coming to blows with Brute because he thinks the woman he was making out with was a hooker.”

Cassie shook her head. “He said my name. He knew it was me.”

Leo peered down at her, seeming to read her thoughts when she couldn’t even understand them herself. “You can interpret it however you like, but he’s down there thinking he cheated on his wife. He has no clue you’re here.”

“He doesn’t?” She felt like a parrot, repeating the words in her head over and over again. But if he didn’t know she was here, why had he said her name? “He must have been thinking about me.” A smile tilted her lips. A weak, almost useless smile that filled her aching heart with hope.

Then whiplash had her straightening. He may have been thinking about her. However, to his knowledge, he’d been kissing someone else. He’d cheated on her…with her.

“Cassie, I’m sorry, I know you’re hurting.” Leo stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “But you have to leave. I can’t be a part of this, not only because he’s my business partner. He’s my friend above all else.”

“And he’s my husband.” She swallowed over the dryness in her throat and dropped her hold on his arm. “I’ll do anything to get him back.”

“We’ll figure out another plan together,” Shay offered.

“Shay,” Leo warned. “I don’t want to hear this.”

“Then run along, sweetheart.”

His ocean-blue irises darkened with contempt. “You don’t understand. T.J. is going out of his mind. He’s beside himself. I’ve never seen him so distraught.”

“That can only work in Cassie’s favor.” The sound of Zoe’s footsteps approached. “If there’s still emotional attachment, surely there has to be a way to stop the divorce.”

“You both need to stay out of it,” Leo grated. “We won’t stand for drama in the club. No matter who’s involved. Tonight has been bad enough. The only saving grace for you, Cass, is that he has no clue it was you.”

Drama hadn’t been her intent. She hadn’t even planned to seduce him. That was a bonus. One that would’ve kicked her in the balls if she had any. “I’m sorry for the stress I caused. I just can’t let him go. I know he still loves me.”

Leo inclined his head. “I know that, too.”

Wait. What? “You do?”

“Yes.” His tone was comforting even though a scowl creased his forehead. “You don’t understand what’s going on downstairs. I’ve just spent the last ten minutes holed up in the bathroom with him. He’s spilling secrets and losing his shit. It’s obvious he loves you.”

This was the first true glimmer of hope. Doubt had started to whittle away the certainty of T.J.’s affection. Now her confidence was renewed. “He told you about the other club.” It wasn’t a question. She could see understanding in his eyes.

He nodded and gave her a somber smile. “He mentioned it. Among other things. And to be honest, I understand his reasons for the divorce. Maybe it’s for the best.”

The meager glimpse of hope shattered, leaving her chest hollow. It wasn’t Leo’s words. It was the pity in his expression. The complete lack of belief for any happiness in her future.

“How?” Shay accused. “One bad decision shouldn’t end a marriage. How could he leave her after what had happened? If anything, he should be ashamed for not sticking by her. He’d walked out when she needed him the most.”

Leo inclined his head. “He has a lot of regret. But this isn’t about one mistake. There are ongoing issues that led to his decision.”

“Ongoing issues?” Cassie reached out a hand, needing grounding, needing something. Anything. Then she let her arm fall back to her side. “Tell me. If there’s more, I deserve to know.”

“I’m not willing to get involved. Not any more than I already have.” He held up his hands in surrender. “I won’t.”

Searing pain seeped into Cassie’s heart. The harder she pushed for answers, the less clarity came. There couldn’t be more reasons to the divorce. She refused to believe that. They’d been happy. Hadn’t they? Or had she taken steps along the contented path on her own?

“Well, maybe there are things I’m no longer willing to do for you either,” Shay cooed.

Leo turned to his girlfriend, hitting her with a confident stare that spoke of his disbelief. “You need to stay out of it.”

Shay crossed her arms over her chest. “While I’m staying out of it, there’s something you’ll be staying out of, too.” A feral smirk tilted her lips. “My pussy.”

“Thanks for the clarification, sweetheart. I wouldn’t have figured out what you meant otherwise.” He rolled his eyes and turned back to Cassie with a shrug. “Look, this is your life and your marriage. I’m not going to dictate what you should do. But I need to respect T.J.’s decision.” He grabbed her hand, kissed her knuckles and released his hold just as quickly. “I hope you can work it out.”

He walked away, his heavy steps echoing through the club before he disappeared behind the door leading downstairs.

“So, where do we go from here?” Shay stepped into Cassie’s vision, shattering her concentration.

“We don’t go anywhere.” These women were lovely. Without encouragement, they’d befriended her and helped to pick her up after the humiliation downstairs. “Thank you both for being so kind to me. I appreciate it.”

It was time to leave. Her mind was filled with fog, her heart torn in two from the emotional blows too numerous to recall. She needed to get home and lick her wounds. To see if she could pick herself back up and return to the battlefield when she now had no clue who or what her enemy was.

“Don’t listen to him.” Shay waved a hand toward the doorway Leo had fled behind. “Whatever happens, he’ll get over it.”

“Shay, maybe you should stay out of it.” Zoe came to stand beside Cassie. “I can help where possible.”

“No.” Cassie strode for the bar and snatched the wig off the counter. She tugged it back on and stared at her reflection in the mirror, instantly wanting to scratch the itch from her scalp. “Both of you should stay out of it. The last thing I want to do is undermine T.J.”

She turned and gave them a fake smile. “I’ll be fine.”

Zoe approached and helped position the wig back in place. “Do you have a plan?”

Cassie shook her head. She didn’t have anything. Apparently, she didn’t even have the real reason why T.J. wanted a divorce. “I have determination. And for now, that’s all I need.”