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  Marriage is the most natural state of man, and the state in which you will find solid happiness.

  - Benjamin Franklin

  He who finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

  Proverbs 18:22

  Prologue

  MONDAY MORNING

  Cocoa Beach, Florida

  Prologue

  It was a Monday morning like so many others. Rachel and John Baker were both late getting out the door. Their eight-year-old son Thomas barely made it out in time for the school bus. The twins, Robert and Maria, were crying helplessly as they got them dressed and rushed them out the door, off to daycare. John and Rachel were fighting all the way there in the car, and they finally arrived at the daycare, flustered and exasperated.

  "Can you take the diaper bag?" Rachel asked, grabbing Robert in her arms.

  John sighed, annoyed, and grabbed the bag and Maria then slammed the car door.

  "It's not like it's a lot to ask," Rachel said.

  "Why can't you take the darn bag then?" he asked.

  She sighed in annoyance, then grabbed the bag and pulled it from his hand. She walked with determined steps toward the entrance, wishing things were different between them.

  It hadn’t always been like this. Once upon a time, they were the perfect couple, but now it felt like they were living in two different worlds. How had this happened to them?

  They barely made it inside the preschool’s tall building before both twins started crying helplessly. Robert clung to his mother and wouldn't let go. Rachel wanted to scream herself. It was the same every morning, and she hated it so much.

  "It's okay, honey. Mommy will pick you up this afternoon after your nap, okay?"

  But Robert wouldn't calm down, and his sister cried along with him just as loudly. Many of the other parents looked at them, and Rachel felt embarrassed.

  She was the one who had wanted them to go to daycare. She wanted to go back to work; she loved it, but John wanted her to stay at home.

  “Shh, shh,” she said, caressing Robert's hair gently while rocking him, praying he would stop soon.

  Suddenly, Maria started crying even louder, and Rachel realized she had forgotten the pacifier in the car. She handed Robert to John and rushed out to get it. When she came back, she saw him deep in conversation with a gorgeous woman who looked to be ten years younger than Rachel. And worst of all, he was paying no attention to his crying children, completely ignoring them.

  What the heck?

  The woman was giggling and playing with her hair. Rachel couldn't help but feel insecure as she noticed the way the woman was looking at John. She knew that look all too well—and especially the way he looked at her.

  Oh, no, not again!

  Rachel's heart pounded as she approached them, trying to maintain her composure.

  "What's going on here?" she asked, trying to sound calm.

  John turned to her, surprised. "Oh, hey, Rachel. This is Emily; we were just talking. She works at the art gallery across the street from my office."

  Emily smiled at Rachel. It was friendly but guarded. "Hi, nice to meet you."

  She knew the look John was giving Emily—the same look he used to give her when they first met. The same look he had given his old assistant when they had an affair, and Rachel had left him until he promised he would fire her and never see her again. She had seen it countless times before and knew exactly where this was heading.

  Rachel forced a smile, but inside, she was seething. "Nice to meet you, too. John, can we go now? The twins are still crying."

  John nodded, handing Robert back to Rachel. "Sure." He turned to Emily.

  "Maybe we can continue this conversation later?"

  "Sure, I'd like that," Emily said, batting her eyelashes.

  Rachel felt a whiplash of jealousy. The audacity he had to flirt with this woman right in front of her. Who did he think he was? She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going on between them. But she didn't want to make a scene in front of the other parents, so she kept her cool. As they walked out of the daycare, Rachel couldn't help but feel helpless and lost. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to confront John about it because he would just deny anything was going on and tell her more lies like last time. But she couldn't just ignore it either.

  Once they were in the car, John started the engine and turned to Rachel. It was only a three-minute drive to John’s work at the real estate office, where she would drop him off and then head to the hospital where she worked as a nurse practitioner.

  "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Nothing," Rachel lied, avoiding eye contact. Rachel was trying to hold back her tears. She couldn't believe that John was flirting with another woman right in front of her. She knew she had to confront him about it, but she didn't know how to start.

  John sighed. "Look, I know we've been having some problems lately, but I promise you… nothing is going on between Emily and me."

  Rachel scoffed. "Right, just like nothing was going on between you and your former assistant?"

  "That was a long time ago, Rachel. I thought we had moved past that."

  Rachel rolled her eyes. "How can I be sure you're telling the truth?"

  John reached over and took her hand. "You just have to trust me. I love you, Rachel. You're the only one for me."

  Rachel wanted to believe him; she really, really did.

  Prologue

  Kyla was sitting at the kitchen table, mindlessly scrolling through her phone, when suddenly her mother called. She sighed since she wasn't really in the mood to talk to her right now, but she also knew if she didn't pick up, her mother would be nervous and keep calling until she did pick up. Her mother was relentless when it came to those sorts of things. She knew her children's schedules and that Kyla wasn't working today. She exhaled, steadying herself, then picked it up. Barely had she said hi when she heard the sound of her mother's voice.

  "Have you heard from your sister?"

  Kyla shook her head. Now, it was her sister Rachel she was worried about. There was always something. "No, well… not since this morning. I sent her a funny picture around 8:15, and she sent something back, something silly really, but I haven't heard anything since then."

  Kyla's mother sighed heavily. "That's what I was afraid of," she said. "I've called some of her friends and John, and none of them have heard from her either. I'm worried something might have happened."

  Kyla chuckled. Her mother always overreacted to these sorts of things. If she didn't hear back from her daughters immediately, she always thought they were dead in a ditch somewhere. She didn't understand that they were busy people with busy lives and couldn't always answer anytime she needed them to.

  "I'm sure she's fine,” she said. "She had to work today. She's probably just too busy to answer. You know how it is."

  "I'm not sure," she said. "This feels different."

  "You always say that," Kyla said.

  "No, this time really is different," she said. "We were supposed to babysit tonight, and she hasn't even told us what time. When I text her, she doesn't answer. I even tried calling, but it went to voicemail. I also called the hospital, and she didn't come in for work today."

  Kyla felt a chill run down her spine. Rachel always made it to work. She never stayed home or took a day off. She usually told them everything she was doing, but today, she hadn't said anything since that silly picture of the cat and the gorilla she had sent her this morning. Kyla tried to think positively, but the fear kept creeping in.

  "Maybe she's just busy," she said again. "It doesn't have to be anything serious. Maybe her phone just died, and she couldn't find anywhere to charge it?"

  Her mother exhaled. "Maybe," she said pensively. "But I'm not comfortable with this. At all. Why isn't she at work? She's always there."

  "I’ll try and call around as well," Kyla said, mostly to comfort her mother. She still felt confident that there was a reasonable explanation for Rachel's silence. After all, it had only been a few hours that she hadn't been responding. She was entitled to some privacy if she needed it.

  Kyla hung up, feeling helpless. She wished there was something she could do, but she knew there wasn't. All she could do was wait for Rachel to call and hope she was safe.

  Kyla spent the next few hours anxiously waiting for that very call from her sister. She tried calling her a few times, but it went straight to voicemail each time. She checked all her social media accounts, but there was no activity on any of them. She even tried calling some of Rachel's friends, but none of them had heard from her either. The more time that passed, the more worried Kyla became.

  As the sun began to set, Kyla's phone finally rang. She jumped to answer it, hoping it was Rachel. But it wasn't. It was a police officer. Kyla's heart raced as she listened to the officer on the other end of the line.

  "We found your sister's car abandoned on the side of the road, the door left open, the car still running," the officer said. "We've been searching the area, but we haven't been able to locate her or anyone else who might have been operating the vehicle. We found her phone inside the car, and she has this number listed as her ICE (in case of emergency). We also found her wallet in the car with her driver's license. We’re worried about what could have happened here. Have you heard from her?"
<
br />   "N-no. Not since this morning."

  "That's odd,” he said. "Is she suffering from any sort of mental health problems? Could she have just walked off? Has this happened before?"

  "N-no, no, mental health issues. She takes Prozac for depression, but that's not out of the…."

  "Could she have tried to hurt herself?"

  "She's not suicidal if that's what you're asking."

  "Okay. We’ll treat this as a missing person's case. We need you to come down to the station and give us all the information you have on your sister," the officer said. "We'll also need you to make a formal statement."

  Kyla numbly agreed and hung up the phone. She felt like she was in a daze as she gathered her things and made her way to the police station. As she drove, her mind raced with thoughts of her sister. Where could she be? Was she hurt? Was she scared?

  Kyla's world felt like it had crumbled around her. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her sister, missing? This couldn't be true. She had asked the officer for more details, but he didn't have any. They were still searching the area and investigating the situation.

  Kyla felt tears streaming down her face. She couldn't even imagine what her mother would go through. She knew she had to call and tell her the news, but she didn't know how. How could she tell her that her daughter was missing?

  Eventually, Kyla mustered up the strength to call her mother. She parked the car in front of the police station, about to walk in, then made the call. She could barely get the words out. Her mother was hysterical on the other end of the line. Kyla did her best to comfort her but felt just as lost as her mother. She hung up and walked into the station. She wondered why Rachel had put her as her emergency contact instead of her husband but then shook the thought.

  Kyla stared at her fingers, then bit her nails nervously while looking around at the police station. She was sitting by the detective’s desk and had just been giving him all the information on her sister. Kyla had been there for what felt like an eternity, her mind spinning in a billion different directions as she wondered where her sister could have gone and why no one had seen her.

  It felt like a bad dream, a nightmare.

  Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the door, and it was flung open. A tall, flustered figure stood in the doorway, his face scrunched up with worry and anger as he looked around wildly.

  John.

  "What's going on here? Where is my wife?" he demanded.

  Kyla got to her feet slowly, something strange blooming in her chest. There was something off about how he behaved; he seemed too agitated and anxious. From the start, she couldn't help but wonder if he was somehow involved in her sister's disappearance.

  She wouldn’t put it past him.

  John continued to bark out more questions, but the detective intervened before Kyla could say anything.

  "Sir, we don't know where your wife is," he said calmly. "But we'll do our best to find her. Please take a seat, and we'll let you know if there are any updates."

  John grudgingly obeyed, and Kyla returned to her seat, her gaze still locked on John, feeling oddly suspicious of him. Something told her that he knew more than he was willing to admit.

  As Kyla sat there staring at John, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over her. There was something in his eyes that made her skin crawl. She watched as he fidgeted in his seat and clenched his fists tightly, his jaw set in a hard line. Kyla couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. She had known her sister and John's relationship had been rocky lately, but she never thought it would lead to something like this.

  What did you do to her, you bastard?

  The longer she stared at him, the more convinced she became that he was hiding something. She had never liked John and always thought he was too controlling and possessive of her sister. She was barely allowed to go out with her friends, let alone her sister. He was scared she might find someone else. And then he ended up being the one who had an affair, the fool—as if Rachel didn’t have enough to do with those three children that John never took care of. Rachel had chosen to forgive him, but it had been hard on their marriage. He was an idiot and not good enough for Rachel. She deserved way more.

  Kyla had warned her when they first met—told her this would end badly. But her sister wouldn't listen. Of course not. Once she had told Kyla that she was pregnant for the first time, Kyla knew there was no way they'd ever get rid of him. He was family now. He and Kyla often argued at dinners at their mother’s, and she believed he was being rude to their mother as he showed her no respect. He always had that look in his eyes like he was guilty of something—like he had done something wrong and was only waiting for the world to find out who he really was. But this was different. There was an intensity in his gaze that she had never seen before, and it made her heart race with unease.

  Suddenly, John stood up and strode over to Kyla, his face just inches from hers.

  "What do you know?" he growled, his breath hot against her face. "What have you done with her?"

  Kyla recoiled, her heart pounding in her chest.

  "I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered. "I want to ask you the same thing."

  John's eyes narrowed, and he took a step closer, his hand clenching into a fist. "Don't lie to me," he hissed. "I know you've always hated me. I bet you're behind all of this. You probably convinced Rachel to leave me and run away, right?"

  Kyla's eyes widened in disbelief and fear. Was he serious? How could he even think that?

  "I would never do something like that!" she protested, stepping back. "I love my sister! I want her to come back just as much as you do!"

  John sneered at her.

  "Sure, you do," he said sarcastically. "You've always been jealous of our relationship. You've always wanted to tear us apart. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you always talk bad about me when I’m not there."

  Kyla shook her head in disbelief. "Yeah, well, that isn’t too often these days, is it? You follow her around and listen in on all her conversations. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. You're crazy," she said.

  John's expression darkened, and he grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her toward him. "Don't you dare call me crazy!"

  John's eyes narrowed dangerously as he tightened his grip on Kyla's arm, causing her to flinch in pain.

  "Don't you dare lie to me," John hissed. "I know you've always despised me. You're probably enjoying this, aren't you? My wife disappears, and suddenly, everyone's pointing fingers at me."

  Kyla tried to pull away from him. "Let go of me," she demanded, her voice shaking with fear and anger. "You have no right to touch me."

  The detective got up and signaled for help to a couple of officers. They reacted and approached them.

  John smirked as they grabbed him and pulled him away from her. "I have every right. I'm her husband. It's my job to protect her."

  Kyla stumbled back, startled, her eyes flashing with fury.

  "Protect her?" she spat. "The way you protected her when you cheated on her? Or when you constantly belittled her and made her feel worthless?

  John's face reddened with anger, but Kyla didn't back down. "You have no right to accuse me of anything. You're the one who has something to hide. Where were you when she disappeared?"

  John's expression hardened as they held him and told him to please calm down. "You think you're so clever, don't you?" he snarled. "You think you can just accuse me of something and get away with it?"

  Kyla stood her ground, refusing to back down. "I'm not accusing you of anything," she said firmly. "I just know that something isn't right here. Rachel wouldn't just disappear like this. You have to know something."

  John's eyes narrowed, and he finally stopped fighting the officers. They let him go, and he sat down. As the uniformed officers stepped aside, he yelled:

  "You want to know what I know?" he growled, again getting to his feet. "I know that you're a liar. I know that you're jealous of our relationship. I know that you're the one who did this.”

  “Sir, I’m gonna need you to calm down now,” the detective said. “Sit down, sir.”