Chapter 2: The Woman Beside Me Knew More Than My Wife Expected
Chapter 2: The Woman Beside Me Knew More Than My Wife Expected
The voice behind us belonged to David.
Lauren’s boss.
She turned so quickly that her glass nearly slipped from her hand.
“David…”
He stood a few feet away, his expression unusually serious.
He wasn’t looking at me.
He wasn’t looking at Rachel.
He was looking directly at Lauren.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
Lauren swallowed.
“Of course.”
She glanced around the room.
Several people were still watching.
The music had continued playing, but nobody seemed interested in dancing anymore.
David noticed the hotel receipt on the table.
His expression changed.
“You brought that here?”
Rachel folded her arms.
“You knew about it?”
David didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at Michael.
Michael’s face had gone completely pale.
That was when I realized something.
David hadn’t been surprised by the receipt.
He had been surprised that Rachel had brought it here.
I stepped forward.
“Apparently, there are several people in this room who know something I don’t.”
David looked at me.
“You’re Lauren’s husband?”
“I am.”
He nodded slowly.
“Then I think you deserve to know everything.”
Lauren immediately interrupted.
“David, this isn’t the place.”
“No,” he said. “It isn’t.”
He looked around the room.
“And that’s exactly why we’re going to leave.”
Lauren’s eyes narrowed.
“Leave?”
David nodded toward a private conference room at the end of the hallway.
“Five minutes.”
Nobody moved.
Then Rachel picked up the key card.
“I’ll come.”
Michael looked at her.
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
Rachel gave him a cold smile.
“I understand enough.”
I followed them.
Lauren hesitated before walking behind me.
The conference room was empty.
David closed the door.
For several seconds, everyone remained silent.
Then he looked at me.
“Three months ago, our company started an internal investigation.”
Lauren’s face changed.
I noticed.
She hadn’t expected that.
David continued.
“We found irregularities in one of the corporate expense accounts.”
My stomach tightened.
“Whose account?”
David looked at Lauren.
“Hers.”
Lauren immediately shook her head.
“That wasn’t me.”
David didn’t argue.
“That’s what we initially believed.”
Michael stepped forward.
“David, you can’t seriously be doing this.”
David turned toward him.
“Sit down.”
Michael sat.
Lauren remained standing.
“So you’re accusing me of stealing from the company?”
“No.”
David’s answer was immediate.
“I’m saying someone used your credentials.”
Lauren stared at him.
I looked at Rachel.
She already seemed to know where this was going.
David placed a folder on the table.
“We traced several transactions to hotel bookings, restaurant charges, and private transportation.”
Lauren crossed her arms.
“I’ve never authorized those.”
“I know.”
She looked confused.
“Then why are we here?”
David opened the folder.
“Because the person who made those transactions knew your schedule.”
Lauren’s expression slowly changed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever did this knew exactly when you were away from your desk, which meetings you attended, and which passwords you used.”
Michael suddenly stood.
“This is absurd.”
David looked at him.
“Sit down.”
Michael hesitated.
Then he sat.
David turned another page.
“There were also several messages recovered from a company device.”
Lauren stared at the papers.
“What messages?”
David pushed one sheet across the table.
Lauren picked it up.
Her face drained of color.
I leaned forward.
The message was between two people.
One was Michael.
The other name was unfamiliar.
But the conversation mentioned Lauren repeatedly.
Then I saw something that made my chest tighten.
They had discussed me.
Specifically, my access to the company’s financial records.
I looked at Lauren.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
Her answer came too quickly.
I didn’t respond.
Rachel suddenly spoke.
“She’s telling the truth.”
Everyone looked at her.
Rachel reached into her purse.
“I didn’t come here to expose Lauren.”
She placed another document on the table.
“I came because Michael lied to me too.”
Michael stared at her.
“Rachel…”
She ignored him.
“This is the hotel reservation.”
She pointed to the date.
“Michael told me he was traveling for work.”
Then she pointed to another line.
“But the reservation was made under a different corporate account.”
David picked up the document.
His eyebrows rose.
“That account belongs to our regional director.”
Lauren frowned.
“Who?”
David looked at her.
“Your former director.”
Lauren froze.
I noticed her hands trembling.
“That’s impossible.”
David shook his head.
“Not anymore.”
He opened his laptop and displayed another file.
It was a resignation letter.
The regional director had resigned six months earlier.
But according to the company’s records, his credentials had been used last week.
Lauren stared at the screen.
“Someone is using his account?”
David nodded.
“And that’s where things become complicated.”
He looked at me.
“Because the money isn’t going to Michael.”
Silence.
Michael slowly raised his head.
“What?”
David opened another spreadsheet.
The transactions were listed by date.
Amounts.
Accounts.
Recipients.
I followed the final column with my eyes.
The money had been transferred into a private investment account.
And the name attached to that account belonged to someone I knew.
Someone Lauren knew too.
I looked at her.
“Who is that?”
Lauren didn’t answer.
Her eyes were fixed on the screen.
Rachel whispered,
“You know him.”
Lauren finally spoke.
“He’s my father.”
Nobody moved.
Michael stared at her.
David looked genuinely shocked.
Lauren shook her head repeatedly.
“I don’t understand.”
I believed her.
For the first time that night, I believed her.
Because whatever had happened between Lauren and Michael, this was clearly bigger than an affair.
David closed the laptop.
“Your father’s account received nearly two hundred thousand dollars.”
Lauren looked at me.
“I swear I didn’t know.”
I said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“You have to believe me.”
Before I could answer, Rachel’s phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
Then her expression changed.
“What?”
I asked.
She slowly turned the phone toward me.
A new message had arrived.
There was no name attached.
Only a photograph.
It showed Lauren’s father entering the same hotel where Michael had supposedly been staying.
But that wasn’t the shocking part.
Standing beside him was another man.
A man I recognized immediately.
My own business partner.
Rachel looked at me.
“You know him?”
I couldn’t take my eyes off the photograph.
“Yes.”
Lauren whispered,
“Who is he?”
I finally looked at her.
And for the first time that evening, I realized my wife’s affair might have been the smallest betrayal in the room.
Because my business partner wasn’t supposed to know anything about our marriage.
And yet he was standing beside Lauren’s father.
At the exact hotel where Michael had been lying about being.
Then my phone rang.
The caller ID showed my business partner’s name.
I answered.
There was silence on the other end.
Then his voice came through.
“Don’t trust anyone in that room.”
I looked around.
Everyone was staring at me.
“What are you talking about?”
His voice dropped.
“Especially the woman standing beside you.”
I slowly turned toward Rachel.
She was already looking at me.
And she wasn’t surprised.
Not even a little.
