Pain swept through me, gnawing away at my last illusions.

It was then I realized—at some point, without knowing it, I’d dug my nails into my arm, clenched my teeth so hard they might have shattered.

Yes, everything I’d just seen had been nothing more than a feverish fantasy. I’d imagined not stopping Talia from barging in to defend me, imagined letting her witness this grand, sordid spectacle of infidelity, imagined capturing evidence of these two shameless ...