“I discovered a popular new restaurant that everyone is talking about. They make special claims about the dining experience there. If I tell you about their claims, then I’ll give away the surprise. It's reservation only. I secured this booking quickly through arduous work.” Julie had never seen Michael like this. Michael avoided situations involving her and refused to try new things together. He deliberately went out of his way for others to notice him and allow others to recognize him. "If this place is popular. Why the casual dress code and no makeup?" You won’t want anyone to see you with me.” “I'm indifferent to our location and my appearance. Our interaction will focus on each other. Not the world at large.” Julie yearned to express herself, but it made her speechless. She wasn’t sure whether she could trust him. It felt as if someone waved a red flag frantically to get her attention. Eventually, she forced words to pass her lip

Julie didn’t know what she expected from Michael. After his fixation on her taking her medication and she’d not missed him calling Stephen or speaking with Beck when she wasn’t supposed to be there. He’d been trying to convince Stephen to let him have a copy of her contract. She could see where this was heading. He was trying to break his prenuptial contract to get some of her money. Of course, it did not satisfy him with all his wealth. He needed to pad it more with her hard-earned money. Michael couldn’t give her any of his money, but he could take hers from her. If she gave him permission to talk to her psychiatrist, he could use what he learns to claim she couldn’t manage her own finances. He’d have control of her money and she’d see none of it and be working to pay for his fees to administer her money. Immediately, Julie felt guilty about only thinking this. The car stopped in front of an imposing brick building with low-key sign

Julie finally stood in the bathroom. She just needed a break from Michael. Confused by a situation with two potential explanations, she struggled to think clearly, knowing only one could be correct. Why did this have to happen now? She had deadlines to make. Mike, her editor, needed the manuscript she was still working on. Michael’s constant presence at home made it challenging to focus on work. Sure, he worked from home once in a blue moon before this. Now he was always at home. He wanted to date. Even get to know her. Why did she not see this coming? How did it come into being? Then his admission that he loved her. Nothing fit his character. His latest confession was he’d been treating his personal life with the same philosophy that he managed his business life and that he’d been wrong to do this. When had he admitted he did anything wrong? The man could deny anything and everything. Michael could justify why he committed murder and make a jury believe it wa

Michael could see she was fine physically, but she only stared at her food and didn’t respond to him. “I’m texting Beckett now. You must be able to hear me. That’s not the problem, is it? You can hear me, I know you can, but you’re having problems processing everything. Damn it. All I want to do is scream at you until you respond.” Michael pulled his phone out and messaged Beckett. He needed to know what went wrong and how to fix it. [Beckett, I’m out with Julie. I’m not sure what triggered it. But she’s sitting here staring at her food and she won’t talk. She’s not even moving, just sitting there. I might have shocked her or something.] Beckett didn’t take long to respond. [Try touching her arm, get her attention. You might have sent her into her thoughts. Sometimes she does that when she feels overwhelmed. This is one of the worse types of ADHD paralysis. Normally, she’ll do something but what she’s avoiding. It sounds like she feel

“You didn’t? Really? I saved the evidence, and my lawyer taught me how to record its origin. If we went to court, my lawyer would send it to yours during the examination or discovery of evidence.” Julie couldn’t understand why he’d deny sending it. But it had come from his phone, she’d checked it out.” “When did this happen?” Michael’s voice took on a cold, hurtful tone, but Julie knew she wasn’t its target. “Several times when you were messing around at parties. The next morning, I’d discover a video with a message encouraging me to leave. Or another message mentioned you’d live your life how you liked.” “I sent nothing. I want to see them, Julie. Someone pretended to be me and clearly stolen my phone. Did you ever respond to these messages?” Julie knew if he’d sent them, he’d have known she hadn’t. Without wanting to, Julie’s hope rose that he hadn’t cheated as much as they’d led her to believe. But he’d cheated before, and she knew it. Could