Chapter Two: The Marriage I Never Knew About
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
I stared at the photograph on my phone as if staring long enough could somehow change what I was seeing.
Daniel.
My Daniel.
Standing beside another woman.
Wearing the same dark suit he had worn on our wedding day.
And on his finger was a wedding ring.
A different wedding ring.
My hands began to shake.
I zoomed in on the photograph.
There was no mistake.
The suit was unmistakable. I remembered it because I had helped Daniel choose it.
Black jacket.
White shirt.
Silver tie.
The same watch I had given him as a wedding present.
Seven years ago, I'd stood at the end of an aisle waiting for him.
I'd watched him walk toward me with tears in his eyes.
I'd believed that was the beginning of our forever.
But according to Vanessa, Daniel had already been married for a year before he married me.
My stomach turned.
"No," I whispered.
It couldn't be true.
I immediately called Daniel.
He answered after three rings.
"Hey, sweetheart."
His voice was completely normal.
That almost made me scream.
"Where are you?"
"At work."
"Are you alone?"
There was a pause.
"Why?"
"Just answer me."
"I'm in my office."
I closed my eyes.
"Daniel, who is Vanessa?"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"I already told you. She's someone from work."
"That's not what I asked."
"Emily—"
"Are you married to her?"
Silence.
I gripped the phone tighter.
"Daniel?"
"I'm coming home."
"Answer me!"
"I'm coming home, Emily."
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
Then I looked at the photograph again.
I couldn't wait for him.
I grabbed my purse and keys.
If Vanessa knew something about my husband, I was going to hear it from her directly.
I drove for almost twenty minutes before realizing I had no idea where I was going.
Then my phone buzzed.
A location appeared in a message from Vanessa.
Come here. I'll tell you everything.
Underneath it was an address.
I put the address into my navigation.
The destination was an expensive apartment building on the other side of town.
My heart pounded the entire drive.
When I arrived, I sat in my car for several minutes.
I almost left.
Part of me wanted to go home and pretend I had never seen the photograph.
But another part of me—the part that had spent the last three months wondering why my husband seemed to belong somewhere else—needed answers.
I entered the building.
Vanessa was waiting in the lobby.
The first thing I noticed was how calm she looked.
She wasn't dressed like the villain I had imagined.
She wore a simple cream blouse and dark trousers. Her long brown hair fell over one shoulder.
She looked tired.
Not smug.
Not triumphant.
Tired.
She stood when she saw me.
"Emily?"
I nodded.
"You wanted to see me."
"Yes."
I sat across from her.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she pushed a folder toward me.
"What is that?"
"Proof."
I stared at the folder.
"I don't want proof. I want an explanation."
"You deserve one."
I opened it.
The first document was a marriage certificate.
My eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
Daniel's name.
Vanessa's name.
The date.
Eight years ago.
My vision blurred.
"No."
"It's real."
I looked up at her.
"Then why did he marry me?"
Vanessa's expression tightened.
"That's what I've been trying to understand for seven years."
I slowly put the certificate down.
"Seven years?"
She nodded.
"He married you one year after marrying me."
I felt sick.
"You're saying Daniel had two wives?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I don't know."
"But marriage certificates are legal."
"I know."
"How could he marry me if he was already married?"
Vanessa looked away.
"Because something happened."
"What?"
She hesitated.
"I don't know if I should tell you."
I slammed my hand against the table.
"You contacted me!"
She flinched.
"You sent me that photograph!"
"Because I needed you to know."
"Then tell me everything."
She took a deep breath.
"Daniel told me our marriage was temporary."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"He said he married me because of a family situation."
"What family situation?"
"My father."
She folded her hands together.
"My father owned a company. Daniel worked for him."
I stared at her.
"Daniel told me he was being pressured into the marriage because my father was sick and wanted him to take over the business."
"And you agreed?"
"I loved him."
The words came out softly.
So softly that I almost missed them.
"I believed him."
My chest tightened.
"So you were in love with my husband."
"Yes."
"Are you still?"
She looked directly at me.
"No."
I didn't know whether to believe her.
"What happened?"
"He changed after he met you."
I stiffened.
"How do you know he met me?"
"Because he told me."
My stomach dropped.
"When?"
"Before your wedding."
I stared at her.
"He told you about me?"
"He told me he had fallen in love with another woman."
My eyes filled with tears.
"Then why did he marry me?"
Vanessa's expression became strangely sad.
"That's the question you should be asking him."
"I am asking you."
"Because Daniel didn't just marry you."
She leaned closer.
"He made a promise."
"What promise?"
She reached into the folder and pulled out another document.
This time, it was handwritten.
I recognized Daniel's handwriting immediately.
My hands trembled as I read.
I promise that if anything happens to me, Vanessa will be protected. I will never abandon her.
I looked up.
"What is this?"
"Something he wrote before your wedding."
My heart pounded.
"Why would he promise to protect you?"
"Because he knew something was going to happen."
"What?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You expect me to believe that my husband married me while secretly promising to protect another woman, and neither of you knows why?"
"I know more than you think."
"Then tell me!"
She looked toward the door.
Her voice dropped.
"Daniel didn't marry you because he stopped loving me."
I froze.
"Then why?"
"Because he needed something from your family."
My blood ran cold.
"My family?"
She nodded.
"Your father's company."
I stared at her.
"My father died three years ago."
"I know."
"Daniel didn't work for my father."
"He did before you met him."
That couldn't be true.
I would have known.
Wouldn't I?
My father had always been private about his business. But Daniel had met him several times before our wedding.
I suddenly remembered something.
My father had once told me, "Daniel is exactly the kind of man I hoped you'd marry."
At the time, I'd thought it was simply a father's approval.
Now the memory felt different.
"What did Daniel want from my father?"
Vanessa's eyes filled with uncertainty.
"Access."
"To what?"
She didn't answer.
I stood.
"Tell me."
"I can't."
"You owe me that much."
"I've already told you more than I should."
I grabbed the folder.
"I'm taking this."
She nodded.
Then she said something that stopped me at the door.
"Emily?"
I turned.
"If Daniel asks whether you met me, don't tell him."
"Why?"
"Because if he knows I've shown you these documents, he'll realize I know you're investigating."
"Investigating what?"
Vanessa's face went pale.
"The truth about your father's death."
My heart stopped.
"My father died of a heart attack."
"That's what they told you."
I stared at her.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying Daniel was with your father the night before he died."
I couldn't breathe.
Vanessa continued.
"And the last person your father called wasn't you."
"Who was it?"
She looked directly into my eyes.
"Daniel."
I left the apartment in a daze.
The entire drive home, my father's death replayed in my mind.
He had died suddenly.
That's what the doctors said.
That's what everyone said.
Daniel had been the one who came to the hospital with me.
He had held my hand.
He had cried beside me.
He had told me everything would be okay.
Was that another lie?
When I arrived home, Daniel's car was already in the driveway.
I sat behind the wheel, staring at the house.
I suddenly didn't recognize it.
The place where I'd spent seven years building memories now felt like a crime scene.
I slipped Vanessa's documents into my purse.
Then I walked inside.
Daniel was standing in the living room.
He looked furious.
"Where have you been?"
I put my keys on the table.
"Out."
"Where?"
I looked into his eyes.
"Why?"
His jaw tightened.
"I've been calling you."
"I was busy."
"Doing what?"
I smiled.
For the first time since I had met him, I realized I was looking at my husband without believing a single word he said.
"Thinking."
"About what?"
"About us."
He stepped toward me.
"Emily, I told you. Vanessa is over."
"Is she?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you lie to me?"
His expression changed.
"What?"
I pulled the photograph from my purse and placed it on the table.
He looked at it.
His face went completely white.
I had never seen Daniel look frightened like that.
Not even once.
"Where did you get this?"
"Does it matter?"
He stared at the photograph.
Then at me.
"Emily..."
"Are you married to Vanessa?"
He said nothing.
"Daniel."
Still nothing.
I took the marriage certificate from my purse and placed it beside the photograph.
His eyes widened.
"Where did you get that?"
"From your wife."
His face drained of color.
I stepped closer.
"Now tell me the truth."
He opened his mouth.
Before he could speak, his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
I saw the name.
Vanessa.
He declined the call.
Then it rang again.
He declined it again.
I watched him carefully.
"Answer it."
"No."
"Why?"
He looked at me.
And for the first time, I saw something I had never seen in my husband's eyes before.
Pure terror.
His phone rang a third time.
This time, a message appeared.
Daniel looked at it.
His hands began to shake.
I reached for the phone.
He tried to stop me.
But I was faster.
I read the message.
Daniel, she knows about the marriage.
Then another message appeared beneath it.
You need to tell Emily what happened the night her father died before someone else does.
I looked at Daniel.
He was trembling.
"What happened to my father?"
He didn't answer.
I grabbed his arm.
"What happened to my father, Daniel?"
He finally looked at me.
And the words that came out of his mouth shattered everything I thought I knew about the man I married.
"Emily... your father didn't die from a heart attack."
I stopped breathing.
Daniel swallowed hard.
"Someone killed him."
Then he whispered the words that made my blood run cold.
"And I know who did it."
