Edna didn’t have time tofort Hickey, who was still wailing. She anxiously searched Elissa’s face. “Are you all right, Mrs. Atwater? The inte can be so toxic these


    days–those photos could easily be doctored. Whatever it is, just wait until Frank gets home and talk to him face to face.”


    Elissa gave a faint nod.


    She uncovered the porcin bowl and sipped her nourishing soup in silence.


    True or fake.


    She’d seen it herselfst night.


    There was nothing left to ask.


    It was then Edna noticed Elissa’s eyes–so puffy, it was almost shocking.


    After some hesitation, Edna slipped away to her room and called the old estate. “Yes, ma’am. I think Mrs. Frank saw the news first thing this morning. She didn’te down for lunch, and her eyes were swollen from crying…”


    The Atwater household had never paid much attention to tabloid gossip.


    But once the news reached them, the ce erupted.


    The young brother–inw and the widowed sister–inw!


    How could the Atwaters ever show their faces again?


    The matriarch was <i>so </i>enraged she took two heart pills in a row, but they did nothing–she still fainted from the fury.


    Atwater Manor descended into chaos.


    Byparison, Elissa seemed almost serene.


    She finished her soup calmly, then, under Edna’s sympathetic gaze, climbed the stairs with her swollen eyes.


    Her bedroom door had barely closed when Tanya Foster’s name shed up, a voice calling through.


    “I swear to you, it wasn’t me.”


    Tanya sounded desperate to clear her name. “Just look at the angle of those photos–it’s obvious they’re not the ones I took.”


    “I know.”


    1221


    Elissa walked into the bathroom, set her phone on speaker atop the sink, and pulled a gel


    eye mask from the mini fridge. “You wouldn’t have posted them so quickly. You’d have squeezed Frank for hush money first.”


    Elissa had already checked downstairs.


    The story brokest night; it just took a couple hours to really catch fire online.


    And the pattern? All too natural.


    Eighteen out of twenty says it was one of Frank’s business rivals.


    Tanya’s voice rose, halfughing, half exasperated. “Excuse me, I’m awyer, remember? I don’t go around ckmailing people for a living.”


    “Mm–hmm, right, right,” Elissa replied absently, teasing, “You’d just call it a reasonable management fee for marital infidelity evidence.”


    “-You are ridiculous.”


    Tanya burst outughing, but quickly grew serious. “But really, someone was in a hurry to make this public. Isn’t this going to mess up your n? And what kind of grudge is this, anyway?”


    She joked, “Maybe it’s a crime of passion? Someone in love with Marcia?”


    “No,” Elissa shook her head, draping the cool mask over her eyes. Her reply was muffled, “I don’t know. But as long as it doesn’t get in my way, I don’t care what their problem is.”


    If she were the one to confront Frank and Marcia in person, she’d just look petty and


    oversensitive.


    But now that things had exploded in public, it was different.


    Now, she was the victim.


    That evening, Edna prepared all of Elissa’s favorite dishes.


    But Elissa, still feeling off from her hangover, barely touched her food. She only managed a few bites of rice and hardly touched the rest.


    Edna sighed and tried tofort her. “Don’t be too upset, dear. The old matriarch was so angry shended in the hospital–she’ll make sure justice is done for you. And Mrs. Atwater asked me to pass on her support. Once her mother’s stable, she’lle by to see you herself.”


    “Grandma’s in the hospital?” Elissa frowned. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”


    13:31


    “Everyone just feels so guilty…” Edna collected the dishes as she spoke. “And you’re already so upset; don’t worry about her for now.”


    “…Upset?”


    Elissa stared, a little bewildered.


    She had known about Frank and Marcia for some time now. What was left to be upset


    about?


    Edna saw her silence and assumed she was too heartbroken to speak.


    After all, how many women who marry into old–money families don’t end up swallowing their pain?


    Elissa met Edna’s sympathetic gaze but said nothing in her own defense.


    She was still Mrs. Frank.


    Her husband’s affair was sshed all over the tabloids. Of course she should be the one


    most devastated.


    Elissa nced at the time and stood up. “I’m going to the hospital to see Grandma.”


    She’d just reached the foyer when headlights swept across the drive. A familiar ck Maybach rolled in.


    Before she could even change her shoes, Frank strode inside, his presence sharp and


    stormy.