He raised another finger.
“Why?”
“To see if you’d cheat.”
“Question three.”
He leaned forward.
“If I had flirted back, what would you have done?”
Kayla hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
She looked away.
Andrew continued.
“Question four.”
His voice became quieter.
“Did you want me to fail?”
She swallowed.
“I…”
“Did you?”
She didn’t answer.
He nodded.
“That’s what I thought.”
Then came question five.
The one that made her face change completely.
Andrew said:
“Why did you tell Ethan, before you came here, that you were going to make sure Claire’s marriage ended?”
Kayla went completely white.
I froze.
“What?”
She stared at Andrew.
“How do you know that?”
He didn’t answer.
She stood.
“Andrew…”
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Sit.”
She sat.
I looked at my husband.
“What is happening?”
He reached into his pocket.
Pulled out his phone.
And placed it on the table.
“I received a message three days before Kayla arrived.”
He turned the screen toward me.
A text.
From an unknown number.
Don’t trust Kayla.
She isn’t here because Ethan kicked her out.
My heart stopped.
I looked at my sister.
“Kayla?”
She was trembling.
Andrew continued.
“I didn’t know whether it was true.”
He looked at her.
“So I watched.”
Kayla’s eyes filled with tears.
“You were spying on me?”
“No.”
“I saw you.”
“You were watching me.”
“I was protecting my wife.”
I looked at Andrew.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I needed to know whether the message was real.”
He tapped the phone.
Another message appeared.
Ask her about the account.
I frowned.
“What account?”
Kayla’s face changed.
Andrew looked at her.
“That’s what we’re going to discuss.”
Kayla stood again.
“You can’t do this.”
Andrew remained calm.
“You called it a test.”
Her face flushed.
“You can’t expose me like this.”
He smiled faintly.
“Why not?”
She stared at him.
“Because I’m your wife’s sister.”
“And you’re in my house.”
She swallowed.
“Please.”
I looked at her.
“Please what?”
She looked at me.
For the first time in years, my sister looked frightened.
“Claire…”
I stood.
“What account?”
She didn’t answer.
Andrew opened another file on his phone.
A bank statement.
My name.
My signature.
A transfer.
$38,500.
I stared.
“I never made that transfer.”
Kayla closed her eyes.
And that was when I realized the towel had never been the real test.
It had been a distraction.
And my sister had been testing far more than my husband’s loyalty.
She had been testing whether either of us would notice what she was really doing.
