Chapter 2: The Secret Behind the Smile
The sound was small.
That was what haunted me.
Not a scream.
Not a crash.
Just the quiet sound of my mother losing her balance.
Her shoe slipped against the wet stone.
Her body fell backward.
The edge of the fountain caught her before the water did.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then I heard myself breathe.
A sharp, broken sound that didn’t feel like it came from me.
Garrett looked surprised.
Not guilty.
Surprised.
As if he couldn’t understand why everyone suddenly looked horrified.
“Alessia…” he started.
I didn’t hear the rest.
My hand moved before my thoughts did.
The slap wasn’t planned.
The punch wasn’t either.
But when my fist connected with his jaw, every excuse I had ever made for him disappeared.
The impact made him stumble backward.
A glass fell from someone’s hand and shattered on the marble floor.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody called it a joke.
Garrett touched his jaw slowly.
His eyes locked onto me.
“You hit me?””
I stood between him and my mother.
“Yes.””
The word came out steady.
His face turned red.
“You actually hit me?””
“You hurt my mother.””
“She fell.””
I stared at him.
“You kicked her.””
A murmur moved through the guests.
Finally, people were saying something.
Finally, they were admitting what they had seen.
Evelyn stepped forward immediately.
“Don’t exaggerate,” she said.
“Garrett would never intentionally hurt anyone.””
I looked at her.
“You watched him.””
Her lips tightened.
“I watched your mother create a scene.””
My stomach turned.
My mother was still sitting beside the fountain, holding her knee.
She looked small.
Fragile.
And that image burned itself into my memory.
I walked back to her and crouched down.
“Mom, can you stand?””
She nodded.
“I’m okay.””
“You’re not okay.””
She gave me the same tired smile she had given me my entire life.
“I’m okay because you’re here.””
That sentence almost broke me.
Because she shouldn’t have needed me to save her.
She should have been respected.
Garrett stepped forward.
“You’re making a mistake.””
I turned around.
He was no longer pretending.
No more charming voice.
No more fake smile.
“You have any idea what you just did?”” he asked.
“Yes.””
“You humiliated me in front of my business partners.””
I looked around at the guests.
His business partners.
The people he cared about impressing.
Not family.
Not my mother.
Not me.
“You did that yourself.””
His jaw tightened.
“You think they’ll forget this?””
“No.””
I looked at him.
“I hope they don’t.””
That was the first time I saw fear in his eyes.
Not because he regretted hurting my mother.
Because he realized people had witnessed the real Garrett.
My mother finally allowed me to help her inside.
The moment we entered the house, she grabbed my hand.
“Alessia, you need to think carefully.””
“I am.””
“No, you’re angry.””
I looked at her.
“I should be.””
She looked away.
“He’s your husband.””
I swallowed.
“He was.””
The words surprised even me.
Because somewhere between watching him hurt her and watching him blame me afterward, something inside me had broken.
Not suddenly.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Like a crack spreading through glass.
Later that night, after the guests left, I sat alone in the bedroom.
Garrett had not apologized.
Not once.
Instead, he locked himself in his office.
At midnight, I heard him talking on the phone.
I opened the door slightly.
His voice was low.
“She finally lost control.””
A pause.
“No, my mother handled it perfectly.””
My heart froze.
He wasn’t apologizing.
He was planning.
I listened silently.
Then I heard him say a name.
A name I recognized.
My attorney’s name.
And then Garrett said something that made my blood run cold.
“She doesn’t know about the account yet.””
I stopped breathing.
The account.
What account?
I stepped away from the door before he could hear me.
For eight years, I thought I knew every secret in my marriage.
May you like
But standing alone in the dark hallway, I realized I might have been married to a stranger.
And the next morning, I discovered exactly what Garrett had been hiding.
