The Pulse of Your Betrayal

Audrey has an almost unbearable gift for empathy: she absorbs the emotions of those around her, and for five years she has felt every flicker of love and pain from Bennett, the heir to old Boston money. Their friends are certain he adores her, and on the night of their fifth anniversary, at an oceanside villa on Catalina Island, they chant for him to propose.

Bennett drops to one knee, then freezes. Beneath the cheers Audrey senses grief and regret, and sees his eyes fixed on Sienna, the new intern at his venture firm, standing in the shadows in tears. He snaps the box shut, calls the moment too rushed, and settles into the chair beside Sienna with a relief she can feel.

Since Sienna arrived at his firm, Bennett's nightly calls have thinned and his excuses have multiplied. Audrey, back early from her London rotation, now stands on the deck, her smile fixed, wondering how much of what she feels is truly his.