Chapter 5: The Woman Behind The Perfume
Mason didn’t speak.
That was what confirmed everything.
A guilty person usually explains too much.
An innocent person asks questions.
But Mason?
He just stared at the phone.
Like he had been waiting years for that message to arrive.
“Who sent that?”” I asked.
His eyes lifted slowly.
“I don’t know.””
A lie.
A terrible one.
Because I had spent my entire career learning how people lied.
Not through words.
Through everything they did after the words left their mouth.
Mason’s jaw tightened.
His fingers curled.
His breathing changed.
He knew.
“Who is Jenna?”” I asked.
Silence.
My husband looked away.
That hurt more than if he had screamed.
“Mason.””
He rubbed his face.
“Natalie, this isn’t what you think.””
I laughed quietly.
“That’s what everyone says before explaining exactly what I think.””
“Natalie—”
“No.””
My voice surprised even me.
It was calm.
Cold.
“You don’t get to manage this conversation anymore.””
My father looked at me.
Pride mixed with sadness crossed his face.
Mason stepped back.
“I can explain.””
“Then explain.””
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
I waited.
Seconds passed.
Finally, he said:
“Jenna is complicated.””
I stared.
“Complicated?””
“She was someone I knew before.””
“Before what?””
He didn’t answer.
“Before me?””
Another silence.
I felt something inside me crack.
Not because I was shocked.
Because I wasn’t.
Somewhere deep down, I had already known.
The truth had been sitting beside me since I woke up.
I just hadn’t wanted to look at it.
“Were you having an affair?””
Mason’s face tightened.
“No.””
The answer came too fast.
I raised an eyebrow.
He corrected himself.
“Not exactly.””
My father stepped forward.
“You’re done.””
Mason turned.
“This is between my wife and me.””
Dad’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You stopped having a private marriage when you started stealing from my daughter.””
Mason’s eyes hardened.
“I didn’t steal anything.””
“Eighteen thousand dollars says otherwise.””
The color disappeared from Mason’s face.
“How did you know that?””
Nobody answered.
He looked at me.
“You heard me.””
I held his gaze.
“Yes.””
The room changed.
For the first time, Mason understood.
I wasn’t guessing.
I wasn’t suspicious.
I knew.
His mask finally broke.
“You were awake?””
“Yes.””
His face went pale.
“You heard everything?””
“Yes.””
A strange thing happened.
Mason stopped pretending.
No apology.
No tears.
No begging.
Just anger.
“You had no right to listen to a private conversation.””
I stared at him.
The cruelty of that sentence almost impressed me.
“You planned to take my house.””
“That’s not what I said.””
“You planned to marry another woman.””
“You don’t understand.””
“You moved my money.””
“I was protecting our future.””
I almost laughed.
“Our future?””
“Yes.””
He stepped closer.
“You were going to be gone for months after this injury. You always put the Army first.””
There it was.
The excuse.
“You resented me.””
“I resented being second.””
My chest tightened.
“You never told me.””
“Would it have mattered?””
His voice cracked.
“You were always leaving.””
The words hurt because they were almost human.
Almost.
Then he ruined it.
“Jenna understood.””
I looked at him.
The woman whose perfume I smelled.
The woman waiting three days to marry my husband.
“Where is she now?””
Mason said nothing.
My father’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“Answer it,” Elaine said.
Dad did.
A woman’s voice came through.
“Natalie?””
Everyone froze.
I recognized it.
Not from hearing it before.
From the photograph.
Jenna.
She continued.
“I know Mason is there.””
Nobody spoke.
Then she said:
“I need to tell you the truth before he does.””
Mason stepped forward.
“Hang up.””
Jenna ignored him.
“Natalie, your husband didn’t find me after he met you.””
My fingers tightened around the blanket.
“He found you because of me.””
A cold silence filled the room.
“What does that mean?”” I asked.
Jenna’s voice trembled.
“It means Mason was never the person who found you.””
I looked at my father.
He looked back at me.
May you like
Then Jenna said the sentence that changed everything.
“Your mother found him first.””
