“He kissed me,” she whispered. “He said he had to talk to the hotel manager about our luggage.”
“And then?”
“About ten minutes later, someone knocked.”
Caroline.
Sophie opened the door because why wouldn't she?
Her new mother-in-law stepped inside.
Six women followed her.
Two were Caroline's sisters.
One was Jake's aunt.
The others Sophie had met only briefly.
Caroline closed the door.
Then locked it.
“I thought it was some wedding tradition,” Sophie said.
She laughed once.
A terrible, empty little sound.
“Can you believe that? I actually thought they had some surprise for me.”
Caroline removed a folder from her handbag.
Inside were property-transfer documents.
The condo.
I knew instantly.
My former husband, Alex, had bought that condo for Sophie when she turned twenty-one.
Two bedrooms overlooking the river.
Paid in full.
No mortgage.
No shared title.
No conditions.
After our divorce, Alex and I had barely spoken, but there was one thing he had insisted upon.
