No no no no no.

Lanie felt trapped. In a nightmare of her own making, no less. A pleaser at heart, she liked when people liked her. Especially the two Capriottis in this very room.

But her heart felt cold and shrunken in on itself and at the moment, she couldn’t access any of the happy she’d had only an hour ago.

You’re my moon and my stars. Kyle had told her that on numerous occasions. She’d loved those words; she’d thought them sweet and had felt special when he’d said them.

But apparently it’d been his signature line, and that made her angry all over again, so angry she couldn’t even speak.

Had she really thought her past was behind her?

Had she really believed that she could let it all go and live in the present? Because her past had just shown up without an evite. So was she okay with River doing what she’d done and getting to stay? Hell no. But there was no way she could say so. “It’s fine.”

“Lanie,” River whispered softly, entreatingly, her tear-ravaged face looking even younger than her twenty-one years. “I’m sorry.”

She tried to feel nothing at that, nothing at all. And normally she was really good at it. But it seemed everything was failing her today, even her own emotions. The thing was, she actually did believe River was sorry. She was sorry she’d been caught, and Lanie got to deal with the consequences—that being that now her secret humiliation had become public. Everyone knew she was every bit as pathetic as River, that she’d been cruelly fooled by a man, by her own husband.

“I really am,” River said. “So very sorry.”

Extremely aware of Mark’s and Cora’s gazes on her, watching her reaction, Lanie turned to her. “Sorry for what?” she asked, really wanting to know. “For faking our friendship? For invading my privacy? Or for telling everyone a past that I didn’t want to share?”

“Lanie,” Cora started but stopped when Mark shook his head at his mom.

“All of it,” River whispered. “I’m sorry for all of it.”

Cora looked at Lanie. “Honey, what do you want to do?”

Lanie wanted River shown to the door, but that was the selfish, hurt, pissed-off child inside her.

Kyle had married River.

Kyle had . . . oh good God, she thought with sudden shocking clarity . . . River’s baby was Kyle’s. He’d refused her a child, but he’d given one to River.

It all washed over her, the shocking betrayal and now having it aired out in front of everyone. Clearly Cora had no problem forgiving River, and more than that, she wanted to continue to help her because River was the victim here.

Lanie’s wounds were all on the inside, shoved purposefully deep where no one could see them. She’d made damn sure of that. She was a stone.

But not River. She stood there with her pregnancy glow, face still wet from her tears, looking like a lost soul in desperate need of help.

Cora would never turn away from that. Neither would she understand anyone who could. And much as she didn’t want to, Lanie cared what Cora thought of her. So she shook her head. “Nothing. I don’t want to do anything.”

When everyone looked at her in varying degrees of doubt, she added a smile. “No, really. No harm, no foul.” She jerked a thumb to the door. “But I’ve got to go. I’ve got an appointment.”

“Wait,” River whispered.

Holding back her sigh, Lanie turned to look right at her for the first time, hardening herself to the fear and regret and those lingering tears in River’s eyes.

“The ring,” River whispered. “Was my ring in his personal effects? I wouldn’t ask, especially after what I just did and how I didn’t tell you the truth from the beginning, but I . . . I really need the ring back.”

The irony was that she didn’t have the ring. She didn’t have any of Kyle’s belongings with her here. The one box of his stuff that had been sent to her, she’d left in her leased town house garage in Santa Barbara, two and a half hours south of here. Life had once again bent her over a barrel and all she wanted to do was crawl into a dark hole and disappear. Maybe eat a full-pound bag of chili-flavored Fritos. Nap. Marathon a season of any CW show.

Forget her life existed.

But she couldn’t do that. She needed to suck it up and make the motions and at least pretend to be as understanding and forgiving as everyone else was being when the truth was she hated Kyle to the very depths of her soul.

And now she hated River for bringing it all back to life inside of her again. “I don’t have his things with me, but I got his life-insurance policy payout. I can give you the money you need. Would five thousand work?”

River blinked. “But my ring’s only worth about twelve hundred,” she said faintly.

Lanie shrugged, over it, all of it, but especially this conversation. “I received a hundred-thousand-dollar payout from his life insurance.” The money was still sitting in her account. Ever since she’d started being contacted by the other “wives” who’d come out of the woodwork, the money had felt dirty to her. Just because she’d been the first woman Kyle had fooled didn’t make it right. She was going to have to divide up the money. “Consider it your due for what Kyle put you through. Put us all through.”

“You’d do that for me?” River asked. “Why?”

So that we never have to discuss this again . . . “Because it’s the right thing to do,” she admitted, willing to go that far and no further.

“That’s incredibly generous of you,” Cora said and hugged her tight. “I knew I picked right when I found you,” she said softly. “You’re truly amazing, Lanie.”

Lanie did her best not to stiffen, instead patting her boss awkwardly on the arm. When Cora pulled back, still looking unbearably touched, Lanie smiled a smile that she hoped reached her eyes.

“It is incredibly generous,” River said, looking floored. “But I can’t take it. I can’t take a penny from you.”

“Then think of it as coming from Kyle.”

River was still shaking her head, her eyes lit with pride and a sheen of tears. “You’re a good person,” she said. “But it’s more than I deserve. You were his first wife, Lanie. You’re entitled to the money. I’m not.”

“Don’t be ridiculous—”

River’s chin came up. “I’m a lot of things,” she said. “Pregnant. Too trusting. Maybe not as smart as I should be. But one thing I’m not is ridiculous.”

Lanie nodded and then shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She headed to the door.

Mark caught her. His hands came up to her arms and he cocked his head to see into her eyes.

She’d been an actress exactly once. In her freshman year of high school she’d played the part of Rizzo in Grease. Her entire repertoire was fake smiling. She’d sucked balls in that play, but she’d gone for Oscar gold anyway.

And she did so now too, doing the fake smile, including teeth and everything.

Mark studied her for a beat and she knew by the look in his eyes that her acting was still bad, that he could tell she was full of crap, not forgiveness, that she wasn’t being nice at all, but self-serving. And he was going to have to be okay with that because this is all she had to work with. “Excuse me,” she whispered and hightailed it out of there.