“I feel like I have to get him out of my system if I’m going to be with you.” Taking his hands, she stared him straight in the eye. Her sorrow somehow intensified her beauty. But there was something wrong with the picture.

She was not asking him to take her back.

“I really wanted to be with you,” she said. “But you know how I’ve kept my walls up. I think it was because of David. I have to resolve this once and for all if I’m to have any peace.”

“But you just said he doesn’t want to see you again?”

“I said I wasn’t sure.”

He pleaded. “But we’re happy together. We’ve had so much love together. You can’t throw it all away. Please, Amy.”

“I have to get over this. It’s tearing me apart.”

He was going to be sick. “Do you love him?”

She sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Do you love me?”

“Yes. I love you a great deal.”

“Then how can you do this to me?”

She spoke with feeling. “I wanted to spare you the pain. I knew if you knew he was in town you would never be able to rest. You would always be wondering where I was. I thought that I could finish it with David and come back to you a hundred percent.” She ran her hand through his hair. “You’re so good. You’re so perfect. You’ve taught me what real love is.”

The words sounded good. There was just one problem.

She was choosing David over him.

That night, he sat in his car outside her house for several hours. Until she finally appeared and drove over to David’s house. Now Matt knew where the guy lived. David was a swell guy. He had already forgiven her. At least enough that he was able to fuck her again. She spent the night with him, and the next four nights as well. She never did call Matt. She had told him she would only contact him when she was ready to come back a hundred percent.

A month later Matt read about their wedding in the Los Angeles Times.

He stalked them and discovered she was pregnant. And from the size of her, he knew she had gotten pregnant while she had been dating him. That same day—it was a very special day in many ways—he began to formulate his plan. The pieces just fell into his head. God could have e-mailed him the blueprint. The plan was intricate but simple. Pain in exchange for pain. And no Matt Connor left alive to take the blame.

Seven months of planning. Now he flew toward his destiny.

Only he could not clearly see where he was going.