Bed of Lies Read Online Free PDF

act. Before the rancor that had entered their marriage, her husband had been a funny and loving gentleman. No matter how furious he had been at her, he wasn’t capable of cold-blooded murder. He wasn’t capable of beating a man to death and strangling him with his bare hands, was he?
    Paulette took a deep breath, sat on the edge of her bed, and tugged on her boots. Though questions about her husband still clouded her thoughts, she momentarily pushed them aside to finish dressing.
    I can only deal with one crisis at a time , she told herself.
    Minutes later, Paulette stepped out of her bedroom and walked down the hall to the stairs with keys in hand and her purse thrown over her shoulder. As she passed the guest room, the door creaked open. Antonio stood in the doorway in striped pajama bottoms, catching her by surprise.
    â€œOh, Tony, you scared me!” she exclaimed, throwing her hand over her chest, feeling her pulse quicken beneath her palm. She stared at her husband, who practically loomed over her in the shadow of the doorway. “I-I didn’t know you were . . . were awake.”
    Since she had told him about the affair several months ago, he had moved his things and now permanently slept in the guest room. Because of his busy work schedule, sometimes they could go days without seeing each other. Paulette suspected that not seeing her occasionally suited Antonio just fine, which broke her heart. The man whom she loved no longer wanted to be around her.
    â€œWhere are you going?” he asked, narrowing his eyes with suspicion and pushing his door open wider. He glanced over his shoulder at the alarm clock across the room on his night table, then turned back and glared at her. “Where the hell are you heading out to at three a.m.?”
    I’m not cheating on you, Tony , she wanted to tell him, but instead she cleared her throat and said, “Evan called. Terry’s in the ICU at Medstar. I’m heading into D.C. to see him. We all are.”
    Antonio’s face suddenly changed. He abruptly shifted from anger and mistrust to unmasked concern. “What’s wrong with Terry? What happened?”
    â€œHe had a car accident,” she whispered, lowering her eyes. “It’s bad . . . really bad. Evan said he doesn’t know if . . .” Her voice choked a little. She cleared her throat again. “Look, I have to go. I told them I would—”
    â€œI’ll go with you,” he said suddenly, turning around and yanking down his pajama pants. She watched in shock as he walked naked across the guest room and turned on the overhead light. He began to open drawers, pulling out underwear, a pair of jeans, and a T-shirt.
    â€œTony, you don’t . . . you don’t have to come with me. I can—”
    â€œNo matter what’s going on between us, Paulette, Terry is still my brother-in-law,” he said loudly and firmly. “I think of him like a brother. I want to know what’s going on with him, too. I’m going.”
    At that, she fell quiet.
    They pulled out of the garage in Antonio’s Mercedes soon after. As Antonio made the forty-five-minute drive into the city, the couple sat in such a strained, uncomfortable silence it made Paulette fidget in the passenger seat. Unable to take the silence any longer, Paulette reached forward and pressed a button on the dashboard to turn on the satellite radio. She slumped back into the seat and listened to the drone of sports radio banter.
    So many questions for Antonio filtered through her mind that she wanted to ask.
    Do you still love me?
    Why do you stay?
    Will we ever be able to go back to the way things were?
    Do you hate me for bringing that man into our lives?
    What will you do when I tell you I’m having a baby?
    What will you do if I tell you I don’t know whether the baby is yours?
    But all her questions went unanswered. She stayed silent and her husband continued to diligently stare