My Marriage Was Their Bet novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Frame It

Daphne's POV

Bancroft had breakfast laid on the terrace, and my coffee was already poured.

On the white tablecloth, at my place, sat a small silver frame.

Inside it, flat under glass, was a paper napkin gone yellow at the edges.

"Look at it, baby," Bancroft said. "Ten years old."

I looked.

The writing was crooked and drunk, in two kinds of ink.

At the top, in Bancroft's hand, it said: Daphne stays ten years. MacKinnon's half against mine.

Under it ran the signatures of men I had served dinner to for a decade.

The last one was Samson's.

It was the first time I had seen it.

My own name was written at the top of the napkin, with an amount beside it.

"Let's frame it," Bancroft said happily. "It goes on the wall in the study. Won't that be something?"

"You took it out of his box."

"It was my box too."

"Bancroft."

"Eat your eggs."

He cut a piece of toast and buttered it with the knife held flat, as he always did.

On the table, beside the salt, lay a small black phone.

My burner.

My stomach dropped.

"I charged it for you," Bancroft said. "Your battery was nearly dead."

"That isn't mine."

"Daph. I took it out of your purse yesterday. I don't need you to lie to me."

I said nothing.

"I didn't read a thing," he said gently. "I'm not that kind of husband."

He picked up the phone and slid it across the cloth to me.

"There are only two numbers in it. I called one."

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