Chapter 4 - The Life He Promised Her
I stared at David.
“Moving where?”
“London.”
I almost laughed.
Daniel hated flying.
We had never discussed London.
We had never discussed leaving the state.
We had certainly never discussed moving our three-month-old daughter across an ocean.
Daniel stepped toward David.
“Whatever Chloe told your investigator is nonsense.”
David looked at him.
“She provided screenshots.”
That ended Daniel’s confidence.
I saw it.
A tiny hesitation.
A flicker behind his eyes.
David continued.
“According to Chloe, you told her Jennifer had accepted a two-year overseas assignment.”
Patricia whispered, “Jennifer doesn’t even work for a company with a London office.”
“Exactly,” I said.
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“Chloe misunderstood.”
“Did she misunderstand the apartment?”
David asked.
Daniel froze.
My heart began pounding.
“What apartment?”
David looked at me apologetically.
“I was going to tell you after the party.”
He pulled out his phone.
“Daniel signed a twelve-month lease on a furnished townhouse three weeks ago.”
He showed me the address.
It was twenty minutes from our house.
Three bedrooms.
Nursery.
Fenced backyard.
The listing photographs were still online.
One bedroom had already been painted pale blue.
Chloe was having a boy.
I looked at Daniel.
“You rented her a house.”
“It wasn’t for her.”
“Then who was it for?”
He said nothing.
David scrolled.
“There’s more.”
Daniel moved suddenly.
“Stop.”
It was the desperation in his voice that made everyone listen.
David ignored him.
“The application lists two intended occupants.”
He turned the screen toward me.
Daniel Carter.
Chloe Bennett.
My hand tightened around Lily’s blanket.
Daniel spoke quickly.
“I can explain.”
I looked at the man I had married six years earlier.
The man who held my hand through seventeen hours of labor.
The man who cried when Lily first wrapped her fingers around his thumb.
For months, I had believed his betrayal was primarily about money and an old girlfriend.
Now I understood he had been building another household.
Another future.
Another version of himself.
“You were leaving us.”
“No.”
“You signed a lease.”
“It was temporary.”
“You told her Lily and I were leaving the country.”
“She was unstable.”
That answer came too fast.
David’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel realized his mistake.
He looked toward the doors.
Then toward his father.
Then back at me.
“I mean she was under stress.”
“Because she was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Or because you were lying to her too?”
Daniel slammed his hand against the table.
“Enough.”
Lily startled in my arms.
Her tiny face tightened.
She began to cry.
Every instinct in me shifted instantly.
I stepped backward.
Daniel saw it.
His anger vanished.
“Jennifer, I’m sorry.”
I turned away.
Then a woman near the ballroom entrance said my name.
“Jennifer?”
Everyone looked.
She was wearing a loose cream sweater and dark maternity pants.
Her stomach was unmistakably pregnant.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes were red.
I had seen her face in photographs for four months.
Chloe.
Daniel whispered, “What are you doing here?”
She looked at him.
Then at me.
“I came because your husband forgot one important detail.”
She placed her phone on the table.
A voice recording was already open.
Chloe pressed play.
Daniel’s voice filled the ballroom.
And the first words were:
May you like
“After Lily’s baptism, Jennifer won’t be a problem anymore.”
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