Chapter 3 — My Wife Finally Revealed Why She Betrayed Me
Chapter 3 — My Wife Finally Revealed Why She Betrayed Me
“The man who ordered your father’s death.”
Natalie’s words hung in the darkness.
I looked at my wife.
“Who?”
She didn’t answer.
“Who was at that hotel?”
Her lips trembled.
“I don’t know his real name.”
Ryan stared at her.
“That isn’t true.”
My wife turned toward him.
“You promised me.”
“And you promised him you would tell the truth.”
I stepped between them.
“Stop talking around me.”
The lights suddenly came back on.
Everyone flinched.
My phone buzzed again.
One message.
You have ten minutes.
I looked at the clock.
11:18 p.m.
Then another message appeared.
Bring the photograph. Come alone.
Ryan saw the screen.
“You’re not going anywhere alone.”
I ignored him.
I looked at my wife.
“You knew my father was in danger.”
She nodded.
“How long?”
“Since before we got married.”
The answer nearly knocked the air out of me.
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By sleeping with my brother?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Ryan looked away.
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
He finally spoke.
“She asked me to help her.”
“With what?”
“Your father’s accounts.”
I looked at my wife.
She nodded.
“Your father left behind evidence that someone inside the company was stealing money.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
“But you found Daniel.”
She looked at the photograph.
“Yes.”
“Your father’s other son.”
“He contacted me.”
“Why?”
“Because your father had been sending him money.”
I frowned.
“How much?”
“Almost half a million dollars.”
“And what did Daniel do with it?”
“He disappeared.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“That’s not the whole story.”
My wife closed her eyes.
Ryan continued.
“Daniel didn’t disappear.”
I looked at him.
“He was killed.”
Silence.
Natalie nodded slowly.
“Three years ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“By who?”
“We don’t know,” Natalie said. “But we know why.”
She opened her phone and showed me another photograph.
Daniel was standing outside a restaurant.
Behind him was my father.
And beside my father was a man in a gray suit.
I recognized him immediately.
Mr. Collins.
My father’s former business attorney.
A man who had attended my parents’ anniversary dinners.
A man who had given me my first job after college.
A man my father trusted enough to keep the keys to his private office.
I stared at the photograph.
“No.”
My wife whispered, “That’s why I couldn’t tell you.”
“Collins?”
She nodded.
“Your father discovered that Collins was moving company money into offshore accounts.”
“Then why wasn’t he arrested?”
“Because Collins had already destroyed most of the records.”
I looked at Ryan.
“And you knew?”
“I knew your father suspected him.”
“Not that he was responsible?”
Ryan shook his head.
“I didn’t know.”
Natalie interrupted.
“None of us knew everything.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“But your wife knew Collins was meeting Daniel.”
I turned toward my wife.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel wanted to expose him.”
“And you?”
“I was supposed to help.”
My voice dropped.
“Then why did you tell me you were visiting your sister that weekend?”
“Because Collins followed me.”
She took a shaky breath.
“He told me if I warned you, you would die just like your father.”
My anger didn’t disappear.
But something else entered it.
Understanding.
“Then why did you sleep with Ryan?”
She looked at him.
Ryan answered for her.
“Because she wanted to make you believe the marriage was falling apart.”
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if someone is watching you.”
My wife wiped her eyes.
“Collins knew you loved your brother.”
“So?”
“If he believed Ryan and I were having an affair, he would think Ryan was helping me manipulate you.”
“And that was supposed to protect me?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“It was supposed to make you angry enough to leave the company.”
I stared at her.
“You wanted me out?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Collins couldn’t control the company if you weren’t there.”
That was the first explanation that made everything connect.
The affair.
The lies.
The money.
The strange hotel photograph.
My father’s death.
Daniel’s disappearance.
My wife’s secret investigation.
But there was still one question.
“Why didn’t you simply tell me?”
She looked at me.
“Because the last person who tried to tell you died.”
I froze.
“Who?”
She swallowed.
“Your mother.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“My mother died of a heart attack.”
“No.”
Natalie said it quietly.
“She was poisoned.”
I stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I was the one who found her.”
I couldn’t speak.
Three years ago, I had received the call that my mother had died unexpectedly.
The doctors had said her heart simply stopped.
My father had already been dead for years.
My brother had survived his own problems.
I had believed I was simply unlucky.
Now I realized someone had been removing people around me one by one.
My wife reached for my hand.
I stepped away.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“I know.”
“Did you ever love me?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
That somehow hurt more.
“Then why did you let me believe you betrayed me?”
“Because I thought you’d be safer hating me than trusting me.”
Ryan lowered his head.
“I was part of that mistake.”
I looked at him.
“You slept with my wife.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“And you expect me to forgive you?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I expect you to hate me.”
Before I could answer, Natalie suddenly grabbed the photograph from the table.
“Wait.”
She pointed at the background.
There was a black SUV parked behind Collins.
Its license plate was visible.
I recognized it.
I had seen that vehicle before.
Outside my office.
Outside my mother’s house.
Outside our home.
My blood ran cold.
“That’s Collins’s car.”
Natalie shook her head.
“No.”
She zoomed in.
“This plate was registered to someone else.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“Your wife.”
I turned slowly.
My wife looked horrified.
“That isn’t possible.”
Natalie showed us the registration document.
The vehicle had been purchased six months before my father’s death.
Under a company account.
The company name belonged to me.
Someone had used my identity.
Someone had been watching my family while making it look as though I was involved.
Then my phone buzzed again.
A final message appeared.
You have five minutes.
Below it was an address.
The hotel from the photograph.
Ryan looked at me.
“They know we’re here.”
I looked at my wife.
Then Natalie.
Then my brother.
For the first time, I understood the real purpose of the affair.
Someone had wanted me isolated.
Angry.
Distracted.
And completely unaware that my own identity had been used to cover the crimes committed against my family.
I picked up my jacket.
“We’re going.”
My wife stared at me.
“Daniel, it’s a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then why go?”
I looked at the photograph of my father, Daniel, and Collins.
“Because someone has been hiding behind my name for years.”
I opened the front door.
Across the street, the black SUV was waiting.
Its headlights turned on.
And this time, it didn’t drive away.
