That distinction mattered, however much my imagination wanted certainty.

I remembered nights Connor had called from supposedly delayed meetings.

I remembered the smell of unfamiliar perfume on a jacket and how embarrassed I had felt for noticing it.

I remembered telling myself that business travel was exhausting and trust meant not asking questions.

What frightened me was not simply that Connor might have been unfaithful.

It was that he had been comfortable creating an entire office where people were afraid to contradict his assistant, and he had benefited from that silence.

My father used to say the danger in an organization was rarely the single spectacular mistake.