[EVE]

    I arrived home expecting to find Cole there, but the apartment greeted me with nothing but silence. The lights were off, and his shoes weren''t by the door where they usually were.

    My stomach sank slightly, but I brushed it off. He''d told me earlier that he had something to take care of. I hadn''t asked for details—I assumed it was work. After all, he''d been missing most of our time together lately because of it.

    Setting my bag down, I tried to push away the flicker of unease. Cole was busy. He always was. That wasn''t new.

    Still, out of habit, I shot him a message: Hey, I''m home. Let me know what you want for dinner. I''ll wait for you.

    I stared at my phone for a moment, expecting the familiar chime of his response. But the screen stayed dark.

    Odd. He''d set a special ringtone for my messages and calls, so he wouldn''t miss them, no matter what he was doing. Maybe his phone was on silent? Or maybe he was in a meeting?

    Shaking my head, I placed my phone on the kitchen counter and tried not to overthink it. People get busy—it''s normal.

    Instead, I opened my laptop and got to work on the mountain of proposals waiting for my review. Deadlines weren''t going to wait just because I was distracted.

    Minutes turned into hours as I lost myself in the monotony of documents and signatures. The apartment remained eerily quiet, the only sound the rhythmic clicking of my keyboard. I glanced out the window and noticed it was already dark outside. My chest tightened slightly.

    How long has it been?

    I reached for my phone, hoping to see a reply from Cole. There was nothing. No missed calls, no messages. My thumb hovered over his contact, debating whether I should call.

    Don''t be paranoid, I told myself. He''s probably just tied up with something important.

    But as I stared at the empty inbox, a gnawing unease began to creep in. Cole was always meticulous. He hated making me wait without a response. He would''ve let me know if he was running late. Wouldn''t he?

    He had told me he wouldn''t meet her again. He''d promised. So why . . . why does she have his phone? Why is she with him at all? And at a restaurant like that? Alone? Together?

    I swallowed hard, forcing myself to breathe, but the air felt like it was being squeezed out of my lungs.

    Calm down. There has to be a reason for this. I tried to rationalize, clinging to any shred of hope. Cole wasn''t the type to cheat—he wasn''t.

    Was he?

    But the image was there, glaring at me like a taunt. He hadn''t mentioned anything about meeting her, about this dinner, about . . . any of it.

    I clenched my phone tightly, the edges digging into my palm as I wrestled with the surge of emotions clawing at me—confusion, anger, and that gnawing pit of dread that whispered I might not like what I was about to find out.

    I hesitated for what felt like an eternity, staring at the screen. My thumb hovered over the call button, trembling. Call him. Find out. He''ll explain this, right?

    But some part of me resisted, a small, fearful voice at the back of my mind that warned me: Once you know the truth, there''s no turning back.

    But this was Cole we were talking about. Cole. My Cole.

    Before I could stop myself, I pressed the button. The line rang once, then twice, and my breath caught in my throat when the call connected. Relief flickered for a brief moment—until it wasn''t Cole''s voice that greeted me.

    "Hello, Eve."

    It was Elena.

    My heart sank further, like a stone thrown into a bottomless well. "What are you trying to pull?" I demanded, my voice trembling with a mixture of fear and fury. "And why are you holding Cole''s phone?"

    Elena chuckled softly, the sound light and almost mocking. "Oh, Eve. Why don''t you ask Cole later when he comes back? That is . . . if he comes back to you after tonight."