Chương 3
The future father.
The businessman.
All of those versions were standing in the same room now.
And they were starting to collapse into one person.
A person I barely recognized.
“Rachel,” I said.
My own voice surprised me.
It sounded calmer than I felt.
The line went silent.
“Valeria,” Marcus warned.
I ignored him.
“How long have you known about me?”
Rachel hesitated.
“That’s not really fair.”
A strange laugh escaped me.
“Fair?”
I looked at the divorce papers.
“You’re right.”
I picked them up.
“None of this has been very fair.”
Rachel did not say anything.
I continued.
“How long?”
“Seven months.”
The answer came quietly.
I closed my eyes.
Seven months.
The same number Marcus had admitted.
The same amount of time I had been carrying two lives inside my body.
“Did you know we were trying to have children?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
The room became colder.
“How?”
“I saw your social media.”
That answer was ordinary.
That was what made it painful.
There was no dramatic explanation.
No secret spy story.
Just a person looking at another person’s life through a phone screen.
“You knew,” I said.
“I didn’t know everything.”
“But you knew enough.”
Rachel’s voice softened.
“I thought he was leaving.”
I almost believed the sadness in her voice.
Almost.
Then I remembered the papers.
The timing.
The pressure.
The way Marcus had waited until I was physically weak before asking me to sign.
“You thought he was leaving,” I repeated.
“Yes.”
“And when did he tell you he would leave?”
“Before the babies were born.”
Arthur looked at Marcus.
Marcus stared at the floor.
The truth had become too heavy for him to hold.
A small cry came through the monitor.
Everyone froze.
I walked toward the stairs automatically.
Then stopped.
Marcus noticed.
For a moment, something like shame crossed his face.
“I’ll get them.”
He took one step forward.
I stepped back.
Not dramatically.
Not angrily.
Just enough.
The movement hurt him more than yelling would have.
“I’ve been doing it alone,” I said.
“You don’t get to step in only when someone is watching.”
Marcus stood still.
Arthur lowered his eyes.
He understood.
He had lived with the consequences of being absent before.
Maybe that was why his disappointment looked so personal.
I went upstairs and picked up Noah first.
His little body relaxed against me almost immediately.
That tiny trust almost broke me.
Children did not know about betrayal.
They did not know about promises.
They only knew who held them when they cried.
When I returned downstairs, Arthur was sitting at the table.
Marcus was standing by the window.
Rachel had ended the call.
No one spoke for a while.
Then Arthur said something I did not expect.
“Valeria.”
I looked at him.
“I owe you an apology.”
I shook my head slightly.
“For what?”
“For believing my son was better than he was.”
Marcus turned around.
“Dad.”
Arthur did not look at him.
“I spent years telling people my son was a good man because I wanted it to be true.”
His voice became quieter.
“But wanting something does not make it true.”
Marcus sat down slowly.
The confidence he had walked into the room with was gone.
“I made mistakes.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Which ones?”
Marcus did not answer.
“That is the problem,” Arthur said.
“You keep saying mistakes when you mean choices.”
The word stayed there.
Choices.
I had spent months wondering what I did wrong.
What I could have done differently.
If I had been happier.
If I had been less tired.
If I had been more affectionate.
If I had somehow prevented this.
But betrayal was not something another person accidentally caused.
It was something someone decided to do.
The next morning, I woke up before sunrise.
For a few seconds, I forgot everything.
The room was dark.
The babies were sleeping.
Marcus was not beside me.
Then the memory returned.
The divorce papers.
Rachel.
The truth.
I sat up slowly.
My body still ached from surgery.
Healing was not finished just because my marriage had broken.
That was the cruel part.
My body was still trying to create a home for me while my life outside of it was falling apart.
Downstairs, I found Arthur making coffee.
He looked surprised.
“You should be resting.”
“I’ve heard that a lot lately.”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“You never listen?”
“Not very well.”
For the first time in days, I almost smiled too.
Almost.
Arthur handed me a mug.
“I called my attorney.”
I looked at him.
“I don’t need you to fight my battles.”
“I know.”
He sat across from me.
“I’m not offering to replace you.”
The kitchen was quiet.
“I’m offering to make sure you are not standing alone while you decide what happens next.”
I looked toward the stairs.
Toward the room where my sons slept.
“I don’t know what happens next.”
“That’s okay.”
Arthur wrapped both hands around his coffee cup.
“Most people who say they know are usually lying.”
A small laugh escaped me.
It surprised both of us.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
It was from an unknown number.
I opened it.
The words on the screen made my stomach drop.
“Valeria, you don’t know the whole story about Marcus.”
I stared at the message.
Arthur noticed my expression.
“What is it?”
I handed him the phone.
He read it once.
Then again.
“Who sent this?”
I looked at the number.
“I don’t know.”
Another message appeared before I could respond.
“You need to find out what happened nine months ago before you decide who the real victim is.”
I felt the room shift.
Nine months ago.
The exact time everything in my marriage had started changing.
Arthur placed the phone on the table.
“Do not answer yet.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent this wants a reaction.”
May you like
His eyes moved to the screen.
“And the first person to react usually gives away more than they learn.”
