---- Chapter 16 Edward Cardenas POV: The image of Alexandra's cold, threatening smile was burned into my brain. The finger across her throat. It was a promise. And the lipstick on my collar... | hadn't even noticed it. | drove like a madman back to the villa, my knuckles white on the steering wheel. My mind was a chaotic jumble of paranoia and rage. Carla had told me she was going shopping with her mother. A lie. Everything was a lie. | stormed into the house, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. The living room was empty. | called her name. No answer. | called her phone. It went straight to voicemail. Again and again. Hours passed. | sat in the dark living room, the silence amplifying the frantic buzzing in my head. Finally, just after midnight, | heard her key in the lock. She walked in, humming a cheerful tune, a stack of shopping bags in her arms. "Where have you been?" | demanded, my voice a low growl. She jumped, startled. "Eddie! You scared me. | was with my ---- mother. | told you." She tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. She was biting her lower lip, a nervous habit she had whenever she was lying. "Don't lie to me, Carla," | said, advancing on her. "| know you weren't with your mother." Just then, my phone buzzed. It was an anonymous text. Attached was a photo. It was Carla. She was in a park, on a bench, laughing up at a man. His arm was around her, and he was handing her a single red rose. It was an intimate, romantic scene. "Who is he?" | asked, shoving the phone in her face. Her face went pale. "I... | don't know what you're talking about." "You've never accepted a single rose from me in your life," | said, my voice dangerously quiet. "You said they were a cliche. But you'll take one from him?" | slammed my fist into the wall next to her head, the plaster cracking under the force of the blow. She screamed. "He's my cousin!" she cried, her voice high with panic. "My long -lost cousin! We just reconnected!" The lie was so pathetic, so transparent, that | almost laughed. | grabbed her by the hair, forcing her to look at me. "You think I'm a fool?" | hissed "l am not a fool!" | roared, my control finally snapping. | let go ---- of her and began to pace, my mind racing. "| am going to get to the bottom of this. And if | find out you've been playing me .." | let the threat hang in the air, a poisonous, unspoken promise. As soon as | left the room, | heard her on the phone, her voice a panicked whisper. "Dianne, we have a problem. He knows. Or he suspects. | think it was Alexandra." | leaned against the wall, a cold, sickening realization dawning on me. They were in this together. My wife, my mistress, my mother. They were all playing a game, and | was the pawn. Meanwhile... Alexandra Smith POV: "Dianne has a secret villa in the countryside," Jamie told me over the phone. "She goes there every weekend. Alone." It was the lead I'd been waiting for. Jamie and | drove out to the address he'd given me, a secluded, sprawling estate nestled in the rolling hills outside the city. We parked the car down the road and approached the house on foot, creeping through the dense woods that surrounded the property. Through a large picture window, we saw her. Dianne. And she wasn't alone. She was with a man, a rugged, handsome man in a trucker ---- hat. They were laughing, drinking wine, their bodies pressed close together. As we watched, he leaned in and kissed her, a long, passionate kiss that spoke of years of familiarity. My stomach churned. This was him. The man who had killed my mother. Suddenly, a feral cat darted out from the bushes behind us, letting out a startled hiss. Dianne and her lover pulled apart, their heads snapping towards the window. Jamie grabbed my arm and pulled me down, hiding us behind a thicket of bushes. We held our breath, my heart pounding in my ears. After a moment, Dianne seemed to dismiss the noise, and turned back to her lover. "Carla is becoming a problem," we heard her say, her voice carrying clearly through the open window. "Edward is starting to suspect. We need to accelerate the plan. It's time to deal with Carla's inconvenient husband." My blood ran cold. They weren't just planning to ruin Edward. They were planning to commit another murder. We had to get out of there. We backed away slowly, carefully, but in my haste, my foot twisted on an exposed tree root. A sharp, searing pain shot up my ankle. | bit back a cry, but the damage was done. | couldn't put any weight on it. Jamie had to practically carry me back to the car. As we emerged from the woods onto the dark country road, a pair of headlights sliced through the darkness, pinning us in their ---- glare. The car screeched to a halt. It was Edward. He got out, his face a mask of cold, triumphant fury. 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