Chapter 2: The Lie Behind the Mansion
For a long moment, I couldn't breathe.
The housemaid's words echoed louder than the laughter coming from the ballroom.
"Mrs. Vance... he told all of us you died six months ago."
I slowly turned toward her.
She looked to be in her fifties, dressed in a spotless black-and-white uniform, her hands trembling around a silver serving tray.
"You know who I am?" I whispered.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I've seen your wedding photographs online," she replied. "When I opened the front door... I recognized you immediately."
My heart pounded.
"Who are they?"
She glanced nervously toward the ballroom before answering.
"The woman is Evelyn Carrington."
The name meant nothing to me.
"She inherited this estate from her grandfather last year. Everyone here believes Mr. Vance is her fiancé."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Fiancé?"
The maid nodded.
"They've been together for almost a year."
Almost a year.
That was months before the divorce papers were secretly placed in front of me.
Months before my father died.
Months before Julian pretended to comfort me at the hospital.
Everything had already begun.
I looked back toward the ballroom.
Julian tossed the little boy into the air before catching him again.
The child burst into laughter.
For a second...
I almost convinced myself he looked happy because he loved the boy.
Then I remembered something.
Julian had never wanted children.
Every time I mentioned starting a family, he always said the same sentence.
"Children complicate success."
Yet here he was...
Playing father.
The maid quietly reached into her apron.
"There is something else."
She handed me a folded envelope.
"My employer asked me to destroy this yesterday."
Inside were several printed emails.
The first one was from Julian.
Subject: Valeria's situation is under control.
Once everyone believes she's gone, the inheritance can no longer become a problem. The divorce has already been finalized without suspicion.
The next email made my hands go numb.
It wasn't addressed to Evelyn.
It was addressed to someone named Damian Cross.
The attorney who had notarized my divorce.
The same attorney who had disappeared from his office two weeks earlier.
Footsteps echoed from the ballroom.
Julian was walking toward the hallway.
The maid's face turned pale.
"You have to leave," she whispered urgently.
"If he sees you now... he'll know someone has betrayed him."
But I didn't move.
For the first time since entering the mansion...
I wasn't heartbroken.
May you like
I was angry.
Very, very angry.
