Chapter 4 - The Marriage Was Never What I Thought
I refused to see Alexander.
For two weeks.
He sent messages.
I ignored them.
He sent flowers.
I returned them.
He sent letters.
I burned the envelopes unopened.
I needed distance.
But distance couldn't erase the video.
It stayed inside my head.
His younger face.
His father's orders.
Date her.
Marry her.
Find the ledger.
At some point during those eight years, Alexander had stopped being the man sent to manipulate me.
But I didn't know when.
And I no longer trusted my own memories enough to decide.
The custody battle became uglier.
His lawyers accused me of instability.
My lawyer fought back.
We discovered something strange.
Alexander hadn't actually used the financial records in the petition.
They had been supplied by an anonymous source.
Someone wanted the judge to believe I was irresponsible.
I asked my lawyer to investigate.
Three days later, we learned the records had been fabricated.
Someone was setting me up.
Then Sophie disappeared for twenty-three minutes.
She was at school.
A locked building.
Professional security.
Still, one of the staff members found her alone near a side entrance.
She said someone had asked her to come outside.
Sophie told me she thought it was Vanessa.
My blood went cold.
I called Alexander.
He answered immediately.
“Where is she?”
“With me.”
“Is she hurt?”
“No.”
“I'm coming.”
“You're not.”
“I am.”
“You don't get to decide.”
“Emily, someone approached our daughter.”
“Our daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Then why haven't you been acting like her father?”
Silence.
Then he said quietly, “Because I thought distance was safer.”
I hated that answer.
But I also heard something beneath it.
Fear.
A few hours later, Alexander arrived at my lawyer's office.
We sat across from one another.
For once, there were no guards in the room.
No associates.
Just us.
He looked exhausted.
“Tell me everything.”
“I tried.”
“You gave me fragments.”
“Because the truth could get you killed.”
I stared at him.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You married me for your father.”
“Yes.”
“You had an affair.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened me with custody.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Then why should I believe anything you say?”
“You shouldn't.”
That answer surprised me.
“I've earned your distrust.”
He placed a file on the table.
“This is what I was actually doing.”
Inside were documents.
Payments to private investigators.
Security contracts.
School security.
Medical records.
Travel records.
Every time I had believed Alexander had been neglecting me, he had been secretly arranging protection around me.
I stared at one document.
It was dated three months after our wedding.
A report about a threat against me.
Another contained photographs of a man following me after rehearsal.
Another showed a break-in attempt at my mother's house.
I looked up.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because if you knew, you would have been more afraid.”
“You made me think you didn't care.”
“I know.”
I started crying.
“I spent years thinking Vanessa was more important than me.”
“She wasn't.”
“You made it look that way.”
“I know.”
“Then why stay with her?”
He closed his eyes.
“Because Vanessa was inside the organization.”
“What?”
“She handled the people my father trusted.”
“Was she your mistress?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love her?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Information.”
I stared.
“She believed she had power over me.”
“And did she?”
“For a while.”
He looked at me.
“She threatened you.”
The room went silent.
“Vanessa threatened my family?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was trying to control the situation.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Control.”
He nodded.
“I understand how that sounds.”
“It sounds like the man who thought he could decide what I was allowed to know.”
“That is exactly who I was.”
He looked down at the ring I wasn't wearing.
“I thought if I kept you close but emotionally distant, nobody would believe you mattered to me.”
“So you pretended not to love me.”
“Yes.”
“And Sophie?”
His expression changed.
“She was the hardest part.”
“What does that mean?”
“I wanted to be with her every day.”
“Then why weren't you?”
“Because children are easy leverage.”
I stared.
He continued.
“I believed if enemies knew how important she was to me, they would use her.”
“So you stayed away.”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand how much that hurt her?”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You made her think she wasn't important.”
“I know.”
I looked away.
For the first time, his control broke.
“I made the worst choices because I believed I could protect you without trusting you with the truth.”
I wiped my face.
“Maybe you loved me.”
He looked up.
“But love without honesty still destroys people.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Before we could continue, the door opened.
Marco stepped inside.
“We found Vanessa.”
Alexander stood immediately.
“Where?”
“She contacted the police.”
“What does she want?”
“She wants immunity.”
“For what?”
Marco looked at me.
“She says Richard Vale is planning to kill Alexander.”
I froze.
“Richard Vale?”
The attorney from my father's records.
Marco nodded.
“And he knows where the original ledger is.”
Alexander reached for his phone.
Marco stopped him.
“No calls.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard has someone inside your security team.”
I stared at Alexander.
For once, he didn't argue.
He looked at me.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“I need you to trust me.”
I almost laughed.
May you like
But then he said something that silenced me.
“Because the person who betrayed me is someone you know.”
