Chapter 2 - THE LIE BEHIND THE PERFECT WIFE
Victoria recovered quickly.
She had always been good at that.
“Nathan, darling, whatever Emily told you, you need to understand that she's been behaving strangely for weeks.”
She walked toward me, her perfume filling the room.
“She's exhausted. She's emotional. I've been trying to help her, but she became hysterical this afternoon.”
Emily lowered her eyes.
I noticed the way her shoulders tightened whenever Victoria moved.
That frightened me more than the ropes had.
“Did you tie her to my bed?” I asked.
Victoria's expression hardened.
“I had to stop her from abandoning our children.”
“Abandoning them? Her son was in the hospital.”
“And what about Noah and Grace?” she snapped. “What if something had happened while she was gone?”
“You could have called another caregiver.”
“I shouldn't have to explain how to manage my own household.”
There it was.
The coldness beneath the polished exterior.
I had seen Victoria lose her temper before, usually over small inconveniences. A delayed reservation. A staff member who made a mistake. A dress that arrived in the wrong shade.
I had dismissed those moments as stress.
Now I wondered how many warning signs I had chosen not to see.
I handed the document to my attorney, Daniel Mercer, who had arrived after I called him from the nursery.
“Did you prepare this?” I asked.
Daniel examined the pages.
“No.”
“Is it legally valid?”
“Not without proper execution and verification. And even then, the language is suspiciously broad.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“Are you seriously going to question me over paperwork?”
“I'm questioning you because you tied a woman to a bed while she was caring for my children.”
“I was protecting the babies!”
“From what?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Daniel quietly photographed the document.
“We should preserve this exactly as it is,” he said. “No one should alter or destroy anything.”
Victoria glared at him.
“This is a private family matter.”
“An assault involving an employee is not something I can simply dismiss,” I replied.
Her eyes narrowed.
“You're choosing a stranger over your wife?”
“I'm choosing to find out what happened.”
For the first time, I saw hatred beneath her expression.
Not anger.
Hatred.
Victoria turned toward Emily.
“You ungrateful little liar. After everything I've done for you—”
“Enough!” I shouted.
The twins stirred in their bassinets.
I immediately lowered my voice.
“Get out of this room.”
Victoria stared at me as if she couldn't believe I had spoken to her that way.
Then she walked out.
But she paused at the doorway.
“You have no idea what you've just started, Nathan.”
After she left, Daniel arranged for Emily to receive medical attention. I also called the hospital where her son was being treated and learned that Caleb had been admitted that morning with a severe respiratory complication.
Emily had received three calls from the hospital.
Victoria had intercepted every one.
When Emily heard this, she covered her face and sobbed.
I felt ashamed.
I had paid Emily's salary on time. I had given her a private room. I had told her she was part of our household.
But I had never asked enough questions about her life.
I had trusted Victoria to manage everything.
That night, Daniel returned with information that made the situation worse.
“The document isn't the only thing we need to examine,” he said. “Your wife recently contacted a private family-law consultant. She asked about emergency guardianship, financial authority, and what would happen if you were declared medically unfit.”
I stared at him.
“Why would she do that?”
“We don't know yet.”
Then Daniel placed another document on the table.
It was an application to change the beneficiaries of a trust established for Noah and Grace.
The proposed new administrator was a company I had never heard of.
Its registered address led to a private office in downtown Chicago.
And its director was Victoria's older brother, Richard.
My wife wasn't merely trying to control my household.
She was moving toward controlling my children's future.
Before Daniel left, I asked him to arrange an independent review of our finances and legal documents.
Then I went upstairs.
Victoria was standing in the nursery, watching our sleeping twins.
She didn't turn around when I entered.
“You should have trusted me,” she said.
I looked at the woman I had loved for three years.
“I did.”
May you like
She finally faced me.
“And that was your mistake.”
