Chapter 2: The Woman From His Phone Wasn’t Meeting Him Alone
Chapter 2: The Woman From His Phone Wasn’t Meeting Him Alone
I remained inside my car for another thirty seconds.
I couldn’t move.
The woman I’d been expecting had just walked through the revolving doors of the Grand Meridian Hotel.
But she wasn’t alone.
The man beside her was someone I recognized immediately.
Michael Reeves.
Daniel’s business partner.
My husband had introduced him to me countless times over the years.
At charity dinners.
Company parties.
Even our tenth wedding anniversary.
Michael had always been friendly with me.
Too friendly, perhaps.
But there was nothing about him that had ever seemed suspicious.
Until that morning.
He placed a hand lightly against the woman’s back as they entered the lobby.
I watched them disappear behind the glass doors.
Then I grabbed my purse and got out of the car.
The lobby was crowded enough that no one paid attention to me.
I spotted them near the café.
They were sitting at a corner table.
The woman was named Vanessa.
At least, that was the name she’d used in the messages.
Michael leaned toward her.
She whispered something.
He immediately looked toward the hotel entrance.
My heart began pounding.
They weren’t waiting for Daniel.
They were waiting for me.
I walked toward them.
Vanessa saw me first.
Her face changed instantly.
Michael stood.
“Mrs. Carter?”
I stopped beside the table.
“You know who I am.”
Michael didn’t answer.
Vanessa looked terrified.
“You’re Daniel’s wife.”
“Yes.”
I pulled out the chair opposite them.
“Sit down.”
Michael exchanged a glance with Vanessa.
Then he sat.
I remained standing.
“I saw the message last night.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I know.”
“You knew I would see it?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why did you send it?”
“Because Daniel told me to.”
That answer stunned me.
“What?”
Vanessa reached into her handbag and pulled out her phone.
“He told me to send messages like that.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve been sleeping with my husband.”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
Michael interrupted.
“Not exactly.”
I turned toward him.
“Then explain exactly.”
He leaned forward.
“Vanessa was never Daniel’s mistress.”
I stared at him.
“Then what was she?”
“She was helping him.”
“With what?”
Michael looked around the lobby.
“Not here.”
I almost laughed.
“You arranged a meeting in the lobby of a hotel and now you’re worried about privacy?”
He lowered his voice.
“Daniel didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Then he should have told me.”
Michael said nothing.
I sat down.
“Start talking.”
Vanessa placed her phone on the table.
“There were three women before me.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Daniel contacted all of us.”
“Why?”
“To make it look like he was having affairs.”
I stared at her.
“You’re telling me my husband manufactured evidence of cheating?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vanessa looked at Michael.
He nodded.
She took a breath.
“Because someone was watching your marriage.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
“I wish it were.”
She opened a folder on her phone.
There were photographs.
Daniel leaving restaurants.
Daniel entering hotels.
Daniel meeting women.
Daniel exchanging envelopes.
At first glance, everything looked exactly like evidence of an affair.
But then I noticed something.
Every photograph had been taken from a distance.
Different locations.
Different photographers.
Different dates.
“What am I looking at?”
“Surveillance,” Michael said.
“Of Daniel?”
“Of both of you.”
My throat went dry.
“Why would anyone surveil us?”
Michael slid a photograph across the table.
It showed Daniel standing outside our house.
Beside him was another man.
I didn’t recognize him.
But someone had circled his face in red.
“Who is that?”
“We don’t know.”
I looked at the date.
Three months ago.
The same week Daniel had started coming home late.
The same week I’d first noticed him becoming secretive.
“So the affair was fake?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
She hesitated.
“There was one thing Daniel didn’t tell you.”
“What?”
“He did meet me privately.”
“Why?”
“To transfer information.”
“What information?”
Vanessa glanced around again.
Then she reached into her purse.
She placed a small USB drive on the table.
My eyes fixed on it.
“What is that?”
“Everything Daniel collected.”
“About whom?”
“Your father.”
I stopped breathing.
My father had died four years ago.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
I looked at Michael.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Then he said,
“Your father wasn’t who you thought he was.”
I pushed the chair backward.
“No.”
“I know how this sounds.”
“You’re talking about a dead man.”
“He wasn’t dead.”
I stared at him.
“My father died in a hospital.”
“Yes.”
“I attended the funeral.”
“Yes.”
“I saw his coffin.”
Michael’s voice became quieter.
“The coffin was closed.”
I felt a chill move through me.
My father had suffered a serious illness.
His final months had been difficult.
I remembered the hospital.
The doctors.
The funeral.
Everything.
But I’d never seen his face after he died.
I had assumed that was because his condition had deteriorated badly.
Michael continued.
“Your father disappeared six years before his supposed death.”
I looked at Vanessa.
She nodded.
“Daniel found records proving it.”
“What records?”
“Bank transfers. Property purchases. Passport records.”
I felt dizzy.
“Why would my husband investigate my father?”
Michael looked at me.
“Because Daniel discovered that your father was connected to the company he works for.”
“What kind of connection?”
“A financial one.”
“How much money?”
Michael hesitated.
“About fourteen million dollars.”
I stared at him.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It gets worse.”
He took another photograph from the folder.
This one showed my father standing outside a warehouse.
Beside him stood Daniel.
My heart stopped.
The date was six years ago.
My father was supposed to have been bedridden at that time.
And Daniel had never told me he knew him.
I looked up.
“Why was my husband meeting my father?”
Vanessa answered softly.
“Because your father hired him.”
“For what?”
“To protect you.”
My mind went blank.
“Protect me from what?”
Neither of them answered.
Then Michael’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
His expression immediately changed.
“What?”
He turned the phone toward me.
A message had appeared from an unknown number.
She knows about the hotel. Leave now.
Another message arrived.
Do not give her the drive.
I looked at the USB sitting on the table.
Michael grabbed it.
I immediately caught his wrist.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Give it to me.”
“This belongs to Daniel.”
“No.”
His voice became serious.
“It belongs to you.”
I released his wrist.
He placed the USB in my palm.
“Daniel wanted you to have it.”
I stared at the tiny device.
“Then why didn’t he give it to me himself?”
Michael looked toward the entrance.
“Because he didn’t know whether you’d believe him.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Believe him about what?”
Michael didn’t answer.
Instead, Vanessa stood.
“I need to go.”
“Wait.”
She stopped.
“You sent me that message last night.”
She nodded.
“Daniel told you to.”
“Yes.”
“Why did he tell you to say you missed his ‘little friend’?”
Vanessa looked embarrassed.
“Because he needed whoever was monitoring his phone to believe we were having an affair.”
I stared at her.
“And the meeting?”
“He knew you would come.”
My heart stopped.
“He expected me to find you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Because he needed you to discover the truth without him telling you.”
My phone suddenly vibrated.
I pulled it from my purse.
A message from Daniel.
I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you everything over the phone.
Then another.
Don’t trust Michael.
I looked up.
Michael was already walking away.
“Michael!”
He stopped.
I showed him the message.
His face went pale.
“I didn’t send that.”
“I know.”
“Then who did?”
Before he could answer, Vanessa looked toward the glass doors.
A black sedan had stopped outside.
Someone inside was watching us.
She whispered,
“They found us.”
I looked down at the USB in my hand.
Then at the stranger sitting inside the car.
The passenger window slowly lowered.
And I saw the face of the man from the photographs.
The man who had been following Daniel.
The man who had been following me.
He looked directly at me.
Then he raised his phone.
My phone vibrated again.
One final message appeared.
Ask your husband why he married you.
I looked at Vanessa.
She was crying.
And Michael whispered the words that made my blood run cold.
“Because your father ordered him to.”
