Chapter 2
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
I could hear horns on Michigan Avenue.
A bus groaned somewhere in the background.
Someone shouted at Dad to move away from the sidewalk.
But all I heard was Vanessa’s sentence repeating inside my head.
Already divorced.
I looked around my kitchen.
Our kitchen.
The kitchen Daniel and I had remodeled two years earlier.
His coffee cup was still beside the sink.
His jacket was hanging over the chair.
Our wedding picture sat on the shelf above the breakfast nook.
We had eaten dinner together the night before.
Daniel had kissed my forehead before bed.
Divorced?
“Emily,” Daniel said.
His voice had changed.
The anger was gone.
Now he sounded scared.
“Please let me explain.”
I stared at our wedding picture.
“You have thirty seconds.”
“Not over the phone.”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Emily.”
“Twenty-eight.”
Vanessa interrupted him.
“You told me she moved out.”
Daniel cursed under his breath.
My father said, “Don’t you dare talk to either of them like that.”
“Robert, shut up.”
“Try saying that to my face again.”
“Dad,” I whispered.
He stopped.
I needed information.
Not another punch.
“Vanessa,” I said.
Daniel immediately shouted, “Do not involve her.”
That told me everything.
I ignored him.
“How long have you been seeing my husband?”
Silence.
Then Vanessa answered.
“Eight months.”
My legs nearly gave out.
I grabbed the kitchen island.
Eight months.
Christmas.
Our anniversary.
My birthday.
The weekend Daniel took me to Wisconsin because he said we needed time together.
Eight months.
Daniel had been living two separate lives while sleeping beside me every night.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“I’m sure.”
Daniel sounded furious.
“Vanessa, leave.”
“No.”
“Leave now.”
“You lied to me.”
“I said leave.”
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“You told me the divorce was final in January.”
January.
I closed my eyes.
In January, Daniel and I had spent four days trying to get pregnant.
The memory hit so hard I almost dropped my phone.
We had been trying for a baby for nearly a year.
Daniel had held me when another test came back negative.
He had kissed my hair and whispered, “We have time.”
Then apparently he had gone to Vanessa and told her our marriage was already over.
“Emily?” Dad said.
“I’m here.”
“Do you want me to come home?”
“Yes.”
Daniel spoke immediately.
“I’m coming too.”
“No.”
“Emily, this is my house.”
I looked around again.
Something inside me hardened.
“Not tonight.”
“You can’t lock me out of my own home.”
“Then call the police.”
“Emily—”
I hung up.
My hands were shaking so violently that I nearly dropped the phone.
For one insane moment, I wanted to scream.
Instead, I walked upstairs.
I opened our bedroom closet.
Daniel’s clothes filled half of it.
I stared at his shirts.
His shoes.
His expensive watches.
Everything looked normal.
That was the worst part.
There should have been a warning.
A strange smell.
A crack in the wall.
Some visible sign that the life I had trusted was rotten underneath.
There was nothing.
I grabbed a suitcase and threw it onto the bed.
Then I stopped.
Why was I packing?
This was my home too.
I took his suitcase instead.
I started pulling clothes from hangers.
Shirts.
Pants.
Socks.
I didn’t fold anything.
I threw everything inside.
Halfway through, my phone rang.
Daniel.
I rejected it.
He called again.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
Then a text appeared.
PLEASE DO NOT DO ANYTHING UNTIL I EXPLAIN.
I laughed.
The sound scared me.
Another message came.
VANESSA IS CONFUSED.
Then another.
YOUR DAD MADE EVERYTHING WORSE.
There it was.
Not I’m sorry.
Not I betrayed you.
Not I destroyed our marriage.
My father had made everything worse.
I took a screenshot.
Then another message came.
I LOVE YOU.
I stared at those three words.
Eight years together.
Six years married.
Three words he had used like a bandage over every small wound.
I love you.
I typed back.
Do you love Vanessa?
The typing bubble appeared immediately.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
Stopped again.
Finally:
IT’S COMPLICATED.
I took another screenshot.
Then I blocked him.
My doorbell rang forty minutes later.
I froze.
Dad had a key.
Daniel did too.
I hurried downstairs and checked the camera on my phone.
Vanessa stood outside.
Alone.
She looked younger than I had imagined.
Maybe twenty-eight.
Dark hair pulled back.
Long gray coat.
Mascara streaked beneath her eyes.
She wasn’t dressed like some glamorous mistress.
She looked destroyed.
I opened the door but kept the security chain latched.
“What are you doing here?”
Her lips trembled.
“I need to show you something.”
“Where’s Daniel?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That answer surprised me.
Vanessa looked toward the street.
“I wouldn’t believe me either.”
I said nothing.
She reached slowly into her purse.
I tensed.
She pulled out her phone.
“There are things you need to see before he gets here.”
My heart started pounding again.
“What things?”
“Messages.”
“Send them.”
“There are hundreds.”
I stared at her.
Vanessa swallowed.
“And there’s something else.”
“Say it.”
She looked directly at me.
“He didn’t just tell me you were divorced.”
My fingers tightened around the door.
“What else did he tell you?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“He told me you cheated on him.”
I actually laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because my mind refused to accept any more.
“With who?”
“Someone from your office.”
“I work from home.”
“I know that now.”
“He knows I work from home.”
“I know.”
My stomach twisted.
Vanessa wiped her cheek.
“He told me you had been seeing your old college boyfriend. He said he found messages. He said you admitted it. He said you wanted the house but didn’t want him.”
I shook my head.
“None of that happened.”
“I believe you.”
“Why?”
“Because he lied about other things too.”
I unlatched the chain.
Vanessa entered slowly.
She stopped when she saw the wedding picture.
Her face went white.
“What?”
She pointed at it.
“That picture.”
“What about it?”
“He showed me one without you.”
A chill moved over my skin.
“What?”
“He had a photograph of himself in that suit. Same church. Same flowers.”
She moved closer.
“But you weren’t in it.”
I pulled the frame from the shelf.
Daniel and me on our wedding day.
His arm around my waist.
My white dress.
My face pressed against his shoulder.
Vanessa stared at it.
“He cropped you out.”
I felt sick.
The door opened behind us.
Dad stepped inside.
His knuckles were swollen.
He stopped when he saw Vanessa.
“You.”
Vanessa backed away.
“She came to talk,” I said.
Dad looked at me.
Then at Vanessa.
Then he closed the door.
“Where’s Daniel?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
Dad’s jaw tightened.
“He left before I did.”
My phone buzzed.
A number I didn’t recognize.
I almost ignored it.
Then another message came.
Emily, this is Daniel. You blocked my number.
I showed Dad.
Dad muttered something under his breath.
Another text appeared.
I NEED TO GET INTO THE HOUSE. WE NEED TO TALK BEFORE YOU MAKE A MISTAKE.
Vanessa saw it.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She grabbed her phone.
“He just messaged me too.”
“What did he say?”
She turned the screen toward me.
DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING EMILY TELLS YOU. SHE’S UNSTABLE.
Dad stared at it.
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
“He’s telling both of us the other woman is crazy.”
My phone rang from Daniel’s new number.
I answered.
“What?”
“Finally.”
His voice was controlled now.
Too controlled.
“Emily, Vanessa is manipulating you.”
Vanessa stepped closer to the phone.
Daniel heard movement.
“Is she there?”
I said nothing.
His voice sharpened.
“Emily, is Vanessa inside our house?”
“Our house?”
“Yes, our house.”
“You told her it was your house.”
Silence.
Vanessa looked at me.
I continued.
“You told her I moved out.”
“Things were complicated.”
“You told her we were divorced.”
“I can explain that.”
“You told her I cheated.”
Another silence.
Dad’s face turned red.
Daniel finally said, “She is taking things out of context.”
Vanessa shouted, “What context makes eight months of lying okay?”
Daniel exploded.
“I told you to stay out of this!”
Dad stepped forward.
“Talk to her like that again and—”
“Dad.”
He stopped.
I took a breath.
“Daniel, you’re not coming inside tonight.”
“You don’t have that right.”
“I’m your wife.”
“Yes.”
The word hung there.
Vanessa flinched.
I closed my eyes.
He had finally said it in front of her.
Yes.
His wife.
Daniel continued.
“And because you’re my wife, we need to handle this privately.”
I opened my eyes.
“No.”
“Emily.”
“You made it public when you walked down Michigan Avenue holding another woman’s hand.”
“That was a mistake.”
Vanessa whispered, “A mistake?”
Daniel ignored her.
“I’ll come tomorrow.”
“No.”
“We need to talk about the accounts.”
I froze.
“What accounts?”
Silence.
Dad looked at me.
Vanessa’s face changed.
“What did he mean?” she whispered.
I held the phone tighter.
“Daniel. What accounts?”
He exhaled.
“It’s nothing.”
“Then why mention it?”
“I was going to tell you.”
My heart began pounding.
“Tell me what?”
There was a long pause.
May you like
Then Daniel said something that turned betrayal into fear.
“Emily, don’t check the bank account until I get there.”
