I only smiled, pleasantly, and walked in, and let my presence go on doing its quiet demolition.

“Pai.

Paige,” Liam stammered, tripping over my own name in his panic, his voice climbing.

The man was so rattled by the sight of his own wife that he could barely say who I was.

Martin, his manager, turned toward me with a warm and puzzled smile, entirely innocent of the whole thing.

“I thought you were away, dealing with a family emergency, Paige,” he said kindly.

“Is everything all right with your family?” “Everything is fine now, Martin,” I said smoothly, walking into the dining area as though I had every right to be there, which I did.