Page 22 of Jealous Wife

Rollo frowned at her. “What?”

“You heard me,” Zoey said, a little too harshly. “She was at my apartment.”

Rollo’s eyes filled with more confusion. He looked to the ground as he tried to make sense of Zoey’s words. He couldn’t. There was no way he was going to be able to figure this one out on his own.

“Don’t cover for her,” Zoey snapped. “Iknowit was her.”

“How?” Rollo asked, his feet slowly bringing him toward her.

“I don’t know,” Zoey said. “Maybe she used the emergency keycard I gave you?”

It was like a light went off behind his eyes. They widened in shock and within a split second, he’d turned on his heels and rushed over to the front door, searching for the card in the little drawer.

Zoey followed him slowly, watching his movements. He was searching frantically, trying to find the keycard that wasn’t there. His eyes flicked up, looking at the hooks on the wall.

“Jesus Christ,” Rollo said. “She can’t have done this. I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” Zoey said, urging him. “Isawher.”

Rollo’s eyes shot to Zoey’s face then. “What do you mean, you saw her?”

Zoey felt her throat tighten, closing up on her. She tried to swallow to clear the feeling but it only got worse.

“What do you mean?” Rollo growled, hissing the words through his teeth.

“I mean,” Zoey started slowly, “I came home an hour ago to find my apartment door wide open. I called my landlord, hoping that he’d come by and forgotten to close the door, but he said no one had access today. So he came down and reviewed the security footage with me.”

Rollo leaned his head forward, waiting for her to continue.

“Ava was wearing a black wig, shades, and a big coat outside my apartment,” Zoey said slowly. “She waited until someone came out of the building to let her in.”

Rollo frowned. “If she had the keycard, why did she need to do that?”

Zoey sighed. “I don’t fucking know, maybe she’s just stupid.”

Rollo let his hands run through his hair, gripping it tightly and tugging on it, as he absorbed the information.

“She was wearing a disguise,” Zoey said.

The anger had faded away from her. After all, it wasn’t Rollo’s fault his wife was acting this way. He needed to be the one to make it stop but it wasn’t his fault it happened. Just looking at his horrified face made her realize that her anger was misplaced.

“A disguise,” Zoey repeated. “A fucking disguise, Rollo.”

“If she was wearing a disguise,” he started, “How do you know it was her?”

Zoey folded her arms across her chest and leaned her weight onto her right leg, feeling her hip pop out to the side as she stood there.

“How?” Rollo asked. “How do you know it wasn’t some crazy?”

“There’s cameras in the hallway,” Zoey explained. “She took off the wig and shades inside the building. It was her.”

Rollo gulped loudly and let his hands fall away from his hair. He looked like a little boy, lost and afraid. His blank eyes searched the room around them, glassy and blurry.

“I’m sorry,” Zoey sighed.

“I don’t care about your apologies,” Rollo snapped. “What did you tell your landlord?”

Zoey was shocked by his abrasiveness. She wasn’t the problem here—the problem was his wife. “There’s no need to talk to me like that,” Zoey said calmly.