Chapter 2: Daniel Knew About Him Long Before That Dinner
Chapter 2: Daniel Knew About Him Long Before That Dinner
“There’s actually something I’ve been meaning to tell you about him.”
Daniel smiled.
The man across the table didn’t.
That was the moment I knew.
He knew.
Maybe not everything.
Maybe not the details.
But he knew enough.
My fingers tightened around the edge of my chair.
Daniel gestured toward the man.
“This is Marcus.”
Marcus finally looked at me.
“Nice to officially meet you.”
Officially.
The word made my stomach twist.
I forced a smile.
“Nice to meet you too.”
Daniel laughed.
“Although I guess you’ve already met.”
Nobody at the table moved.
Melissa, who had somehow ended up at the same dinner, looked between us.
She was one of the few people who knew what had happened.
Her expression told me she understood immediately.
Daniel picked up his glass.
“Marcus joined our team about two months ago.”
I looked at him.
“Two months?”
“Yeah.”
My mouth went dry.
Two months.
That was exactly when Melissa had introduced us.
I looked at Marcus.
He looked away.
Daniel continued casually.
“He’s actually been working closely with me on the Chicago account.”
I forced myself to nod.
“That’s nice.”
Daniel leaned back.
“You seem nervous.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
I laughed.
“It’s just been a long day.”
He smiled.
Then he looked at Marcus.
“You agree?”
Marcus hesitated.
“She’s probably just tired.”
Daniel nodded.
“Probably.”
The conversation slowly resumed.
Someone started talking about work.
Another person ordered another round.
People laughed.
But I barely heard any of it.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the weeks before this dinner.
The messages.
The secret meetings.
The lies I had told Daniel.
The promise I had made to myself that it would never happen again.
And now Marcus was sitting across from me.
Inside my husband’s team.
As if he’d been waiting for this moment.
At one point, Daniel stood to take a phone call.
The moment he disappeared around the corner, Marcus leaned slightly toward me.
“We need to talk.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Listen.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“I didn’t know Daniel was your husband.”
I looked at him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I didn’t know he was going to bring you.”
I looked toward the restaurant entrance.
“You could have left.”
“I tried.”
“And?”
Marcus looked toward the hallway.
“He wouldn’t let me.”
My heart skipped.
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, Daniel returned.
He sat beside me.
“Everything okay?”
Marcus smiled.
“Perfect.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You sure?”
I nodded.
“Of course.”
He put his hand over mine.
The gesture looked affectionate.
Normal.
But his eyes were different.
He was watching me.
Not lovingly.
Studying me.
Testing me.
I suddenly wondered how much he knew.
Dinner continued for another hour.
When the plates were cleared, Daniel stood.
“I’ve got something for everyone.”
He pulled a small envelope from his jacket.
The team began joking.
“Bonus?”
“Please tell me it’s a bonus.”
Daniel laughed.
“No. Something better.”
He handed each person a photograph from the project they had completed.
When he reached Marcus, he paused.
Then handed him his envelope.
Marcus opened it.
His face changed.
I couldn’t see what was inside.
But Daniel could.
And Daniel smiled.
That smile frightened me.
After dinner, everyone began leaving.
I waited near the entrance while Daniel said goodbye to his colleagues.
Marcus walked past me.
He didn’t stop.
But something slipped from his hand.
A folded piece of paper.
I stared at it.
Then picked it up.
There were only four words.
Don’t trust your husband.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I quickly folded it and put it inside my purse.
A few minutes later, Daniel joined me.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
We walked toward the parking garage.
Neither of us spoke.
The silence between us felt heavier with every step.
When we reached the car, Daniel opened my door.
I got inside.
He walked around to the driver’s side.
As soon as he started the engine, he said,
“You seemed uncomfortable tonight.”
I looked out the window.
“I was tired.”
“You’ve been saying that a lot lately.”
I turned toward him.
“What are you implying?”
“Nothing.”
He smiled.
“I was just asking.”
We drove home.
I kept thinking about the note.
Don’t trust your husband.
Why would Marcus say that?
Was he warning me?
Or was this another game?
When we arrived, Daniel went upstairs.
I told him I’d be there in a minute.
The moment I was alone, I took out the note.
I turned it over.
There was something written on the back.
A phone number.
I stared at it.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
You need to hear the truth before Daniel tells you his version.
Another message followed.
Meet me tomorrow. Alone.
I didn’t reply.
Then another message arrived.
This time, there was an attachment.
A photograph.
I opened it.
My breath caught.
It showed Marcus and Daniel together.
Not at work.
Not at the office.
They were standing outside a hotel.
And the date on the photograph was from three weeks before Melissa had introduced me to Marcus.
I stared at the image.
If Marcus and Daniel already knew each other, then our first meeting hadn’t been random.
I heard footsteps upstairs.
I quickly locked my phone.
Daniel appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“You coming?”
“In a minute.”
He looked at me.
Then at my purse.
“Everything okay?”
“Fine.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
He turned around.
I watched him walk upstairs.
Then I opened the photograph again.
There was something in the background I hadn’t noticed before.
A black SUV.
And beside it stood Melissa.
My best friend.
My stomach dropped.
Melissa had told me Marcus was someone she knew.
She had introduced us.
She had encouraged me to talk to him.
And now she was standing beside Daniel outside the same hotel.
I zoomed in.
There was another person beside them.
Someone whose face was partially hidden.
I couldn’t identify him.
But I recognized the jacket.
Daniel had worn it at our anniversary dinner three years ago.
My hands began shaking.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
Maybe Marcus hadn’t been the one who crossed the line first.
Maybe I had been the last piece of a plan that had started long before I ever met him.
My phone vibrated again.
Another message.
Ask Melissa what happened in Room 417.
I stared at the words.
Then another message appeared.
And ask Daniel why he has been paying Marcus for the last three years.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Three years.
Marcus and I had only met weeks ago.
So what exactly had Daniel been paying him for?
I heard my husband’s voice from upstairs.
“Are you coming to bed?”
I locked my phone.
“Yeah.”
I walked upstairs slowly.
Daniel was standing beside our bedroom door.
He smiled.
But this time, I noticed something I’d never noticed before.
His phone was in his hand.
And on the screen was a photograph of Marcus.
Daniel looked at me.
Then he locked his phone.
“Goodnight,” he said.
I smiled back.
“Goodnight.”
We climbed into bed.
He turned off the light.
I lay beside him in the darkness, staring at the ceiling.
For the first time since our wedding, I wasn’t wondering whether my husband knew about my betrayal.
I was wondering something much worse.
What if he had known from the beginning?
And what if he hadn’t brought Marcus to that dinner to expose me?
What if he had brought him there because he wanted me to discover something else?
Something neither of us was ready to face.
I closed my eyes.
Then, in the darkness, Daniel whispered,
“I know about Room 417.”
My eyes flew open.
He didn’t move.
“Tomorrow,” he said quietly, “you and I are going to talk about what happened that night.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Because I had never told Daniel about Room 417.
Not once.
And suddenly, I realized the question wasn’t how he knew.
The question was—
Who had told him?
