TOWARD THE DISTANCE Chapter 9

Cade hung up the phone and felt nothing wrong.

Not a single flicker of doubt, not one instinct telling him something had shifted. He was smiling — warm, easy, the way he always did after talking to Elena. Lily, standing beside him, noticed immediately.

She pouted. "You only belong to me when we're alone. And now it's almost over — soon I won't have to share you anymore."

Cade's expression shifted — just slightly. A warning. "Don't say things like that. Elena can't suspect anything. Not now. Not ever."

"Okay, okay. I know. You've told me a thousand times."

"And I'll tell you a thousand more if I have to."

Lily's lower lip trembled. "You're being mean."

Cade looked at her — at the way her eyes glistened, at the slight curve of her belly that was barely visible yet but somehow already miraculous — and his shoulders dropped. "Don't cry. Crying isn't good for the baby."

"You're mad at me."

"I'm not mad. I'm worried. That's different." He paused. "Tell you what — I'll buy you a bag. Whatever you want. Pick one."

Lily brightened. "Let's go back to the office first. Before you go home, one more time —"

Cade shook his head. "I told Elena I'd be home in two hours. There isn't time."

"Just say you got stuck in traffic. The highway from the airport is always jammed —"

Cade checked his watch. He hesitated.

Lily wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him — slow, deliberate, exactly the way she knew worked on him.

At first he pulled back. But then he didn't. Then he kissed her back, harder, and the careful restraint he'd been wearing all week dissolved like sugar in hot water.

"You little devil," he murmured against her mouth.

"Come on," she whispered. "One last time before everything changes…"

He lifted her up and carried her toward the parking garage. Lily laughed against his shoulder. "The luggage —"

"Leave it."

They spent an hour in the car. Then two more hours in his office.

By the time it was over, Cade remembered to call Elena.

The line connected once. Then: "The number you have dialed is not in service."

He stared at the screen.

Elena never turned her phone off. Not once in fifteen years.

Lily appeared in the doorway with two cups of coffee, completely at ease, and settled herself directly onto his lap. "You're overthinking it. Her phone just died."

She snuggled against him, purring. "I made you coffee. Let me feed it to you —"

Cade didn't touch it. Something was off — he could feel it, the way you feel a change in air pressure before a storm. The coffee was too hot, the room was too quiet, and for the first time in months, the warmth of the woman on his lap felt completely, utterly wrong.

"Get me tea instead," he said. "Hot tea."

Lily tilted her head. "Switching it up again?"

"Just do it. And don't make me ask three times."

Lily read the room and disappeared without another word. She had built her entire strategy on being agreeable — the kind of woman who never pushed back, never caused a scene. She wasn't going to ruin it now.

The assistant arrived with Cade's schedule. He barely glanced at it.

"I need to go home," he said, standing abruptly. "If the meeting starts before I'm back, don't wait for me. Let them run it."

He didn't explain. He just grabbed his keys and walked out — not to his driver, not to his phone. He just walked, fast, toward the elevator.

Lily felt it before she understood it. A cold knot tightening somewhere behind her ribs.

"Cade —" she called, jogging to catch up. "Where are you going? I'm right here —"

"I know where you are," he said, without turning around. "I need to see Elena."

Lily grabbed his arm. "Why? What did she do? I thought —"

He stopped. Turned. Looked at her with an expression she had never seen before — not anger, not desire, not even irritation. Something colder than all of those.

"From the very beginning," he said, very quietly, "I told you to know your place. Elena is my wife. She will always be Mrs. Harrington."