I Found My Husband in Our Pool With Another Woman—Then He Learned Whose House It Really Was

Chapter 01 - I Found My Husband in Our Pool With Another Woman—Then He Learned Whose House It Really Was

## chapter 01 - The Woman Standing at the Pool

The first thing Elena Hart noticed was the laughter.

It floated across the terrace of the Spanish-style villa, light and careless, the kind of laughter that belonged to people who believed no one could interrupt them.

Elena stepped through the open glass doors wearing the champagne-colored silk robe she had packed for a weekend that was supposed to save her marriage.

Then she saw her husband in the pool.

Ryan stood waist-deep in the blue water, his hands resting on the hips of a younger woman Elena had never met.

For one long second, no one moved.

The woman in the pool turned first. Her smile vanished.

Ryan's face followed.

“Elena?”

His voice cracked on her name.

Elena stopped at the edge of the pool.

She had imagined this moment a hundred different ways during the six-hour flight home. She had imagined screaming. Crying. Throwing his clothes onto the driveway.

Instead, she felt strangely calm.

“Who is she?”

Ryan moved away from the woman.

“It’s not what you think.”

Elena almost laughed.

Behind them, the California hills glowed gold in the evening sun. The villa looked peaceful, expensive, perfect.

It had been Elena’s mother’s favorite place in the world.

And now another woman was swimming in her pool with her husband.

The stranger climbed toward the steps.

“My name is Chloe,” she said quietly.

Elena looked at Ryan.

“Tell me why Chloe is in my mother’s house.”