Chapter 3 - CAMILLE ROURKE
I met Camille three times before I knew she mattered.
First at a hotel opening.
Second at a foundation dinner.
Third at my mother-in-law’s Christmas party.
She was polite to me.
That made everything worse in an ordinary way.
No lipstick on Adrian’s collar.
No secret kiss witnessed in a corridor.
No obvious mistress performance.
Just glances I began remembering differently after I saw the Crownline documents.
Then a restaurant receipt.
Adrian and Camille.
Dinner for two.
Could be business.
Then a hotel charge from Chicago during an investor conference.
Separate rooms.
At least according to invoices.
Then messages on Adrian’s unlocked tablet that appeared while I was using it to call our obstetrician because my phone had died.
Camille:
I’m not doing this while you’re still pretending the marriage is functional.
Adrian:
It won’t be long.
Camille:
That’s what you said in May.
My hand went cold.
Then:
Adrian:
After the baby. Timing matters.
Camille:
For your divorce or Crownline?
Adrian:
Both.
There.
I did not continue reading.
Not because I suddenly discovered ethics.
Because my daughter kicked hard enough to make me sit down.
I confronted him that night.
“Are you sleeping with her?”
His first answer was not no.
It was:
“You read my messages?”
Then:
“Are you?”
“We’re close.”
“How close?”
He paced.
“Nothing happened physically.”
Maybe true.
“Do you want to marry her?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
I asked why he had waited until I was thirty-seven weeks pregnant.
He said:
“The marriage has been dead for years.”
Our wedding anniversary had been two months earlier.
He bought me diamonds.
Apparently the corpse was well accessorized.
Then:
“Does Rourke Capital know?”
His face changed.
“Know what?”
“That you want to marry Camille.”
“Do not mix my personal life with business.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re planning both on the same timeline.”
He walked away.
The next morning, his mother called me.
Not to ask whether I was okay.
To tell me:
“Pregnancy makes women interpret things emotionally.”
There it was.
May you like
The first clear indication the affair was not private.
His family knew.
