Instinct, perhaps.
Or
my father’s voice again.
Protect yourself before emotion makes you stupid.
When I came downstairs, the shared tablet was still on the kitchen counter.
I opened it.
Mark’s messages had disappeared.
All of them.
My heart accelerated.
He had deleted the conversation remotely.
So he knew something.
Or he was cleaning up.
I checked his email.
Password required.
Then cloud storage.
Password required.
Everything had changed.
Except one thing.
The tablet’s browser history.
Mark had forgotten about that.
I scrolled.
Restaurants.
Sports.
News.
Then—
Fairfield Inn reservation confirmation.
My pulse jumped.
I tapped it.
The page had expired, but the browser had cached part of the reservation.
Room 214.
I took a photograph.
Then another entry caught my attention.
A jewelry store.
Evelyn & Hart.
I opened it.
The history showed visits to a product page.
A diamond pendant.
$4,800.
My stomach turned.
Mark had not bought me jewelry
