Chapter 2 - The House of Glass
The party ended in a chaotic blur of hurried goodbyes and whispered rumors.
Friends dragged their children away,
not wanting them to witness the implosion of a family.
My house,
which had been filled with laughter only an hour ago,
was now a tomb of silence.
I sent Chloe to her room with her favorite movie,
trying to shield her from the storm that was about to break.
Julian sat at the kitchen island,
his head in his hands,
while Eleanor stood by the glass doors,
looking out at the empty pool.
"I want an explanation,"
I said,
slamming my fist onto the marble counter.
"I want the truth,
every single word of it."
Julian looked up,
and for the first time,
I saw the man behind the mask.
He wasn't the successful architect I married,
he was a liar who had been playing a part for a decade.
"It started before I met you,"
he began,
his voice hollow and flat.
"I met Eleanor at a gallery opening in the city,
years before she married your father."
My heart skipped a beat,
a cold realization washing over me.
"You knew her first?"
I asked,
my mind racing to connect the dots.
"We were together for a year,"
Eleanor interrupted,
turning around with a cruel smile.
"But then your father came along with his millions and his lonely heart."
"She told me to marry you, Sarah,"
Julian whispered,
not looking me in the eye.
"She said it was the only way we could stay close,
the only way we could be a family without anyone suspecting."
I felt a surge of nausea so strong I had to lean against the sink.
My marriage wasn't a choice,
it was a strategy.
They had used me as a bridge,
a way to keep their twisted affair alive under the very roof of my own family.
Every holiday,
every dinner,
every time Julian had been "working late,"
he was with her.
"The medical appointments,"
I said,
remembering Eleanor's excuses over the last few months.
"You weren't at a doctor's office."
"We were at a hotel in the suburbs,"
Eleanor said,
as casually as if she were discussing a shopping trip.
"We got the tattoos together last month,
a permanent promise that we would eventually leave this charade."
"Chloe wasn't supposed to see it,"
Julian added,
finally standing up.
"The swimsuit was a mistake,
the heat was just too much."
I looked at him,
at the man who had helped me raise our child,
and realized he was a stranger.
He had held me while I was in labor with Chloe,
all while planning his next meeting with my stepmother.
"Get out,"
I said,
my voice low and dangerous.
"Both of you."
"Sarah, let's talk about this rationally,"
Julian started,
reaching for my hand.
I pulled back as if he were covered in acid.
"If you don't leave this house in the next five minutes,
I will call the police and tell them you've been skimming from my trust fund,"
I threatened,
though I didn't even know if he had.
His eyes widened,
knowing that I was desperate enough to do anything.
He grabbed his keys from the counter,
his movements jerky and panicked.
Eleanor didn't even pack a bag,
she just grabbed her cover-up and walked out the door without a backward glance.
I watched their car pull out of the driveway,
the red taillights fading into the evening gloom.
I was alone in a house built on lies,
with a four-year-old who had just seen the devil on her grandmother's ribs.
I sat on the floor and cried,
but the tears weren't for Julian.
May you like
They were for the life I thought I had,
which had never actually existed.
