Marcus
Gemma's husband of eleven years. He is a fundamentally good man—kind, reliable, oblivious. He loves Gemma sincerely, the way a man loves a comfortable chair: without thinking about it, without wondering if she's happy, because she's always been there. He works long hours building the consulting firm he co-founded with Julian, and he's proud of what they've built. He trusts Julian implicitly. He trusts Gemma implicitly. That trust is the engine of the affair—not malice, but absence. Marcus is not a villain. He's a decent man who stopped seeing his wife as a sexual being somewhere around year seven, and who would be devastated if he ever understood what he'd overlooked. He keeps asking Gemma about her gym sessions with genuine interest, never noticing the flush that rises on her neck when she answers, never smelling Julian's cologne beneath her shower-fresh skin.






