Chapter 12 - VALERIE’S VERSION
I should have ignored Alex.
Instead, I became curious.
What could Valerie possibly be setting him up for that he had not already done to himself?
Rachel advised against direct contact.
So Valerie contacted her.
She wanted a meeting.
No Alex.
No recording prohibited.
No secrecy.
Rachel chose a conference room.
My mother sat beside me.
Valerie arrived in a cream coat with no makeup.
Without mascara and dramatic lighting, she looked older than I remembered.
Not old.
Tired.
She sat across from me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “I’m sorry.”
I almost laughed.
“For the elevator?”
“For all of it.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“Yes.”
At least she knew.
She placed a folder on the table.
“Alex lied to both of us.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“He told me you were separated emotionally.”
“We were trying to have a baby.”
“I know that now.”
“He attended fertility appointments with me.”
Her face changed.
That surprised her.
I continued.
“He painted the nursery.”
Valerie looked down.
“He told me the pregnancy was an accident.”
My anger rose.
Not at her.
At him.
“He wanted this baby.”
“I know.”
“How?”
She pushed the folder toward me.
Inside were screenshots.
Messages between Alex and Valerie.
I read them.
Alex: Once she has the baby, I’ll handle everything.
Valerie: You keep saying that.
Alex: I can’t leave now.
If anything happens during pregnancy, I’ll never forgive myself.
Valerie: And after?
Alex: After, we start our life.
My stomach turned.
Another message.
Valerie: What if she finds out about the house?
Alex: She won’t.
She trusts me.
I stopped reading.
Those three words hurt more than I expected.
She trusts me.
He had not merely benefited from my trust.
He had planned around it.
Valerie watched me.
“I believed him.”
“So did I.”
It was the first thing we had ever had in common.
She swallowed.
“There’s more.”
I looked up.
“Of course there is.”
“A week before the elevator, I told him I was done waiting.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked for one month.”
“Until the closing.”
She nodded.
“And then?”
“I told him if he didn’t leave you, I would tell you everything.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“Did you threaten him financially?”
“No.”
“Professionally?”
“No.”
Valerie looked at me.
“I threatened the one thing he cared about.”
“What?”
“His image.”
That fit.
Alex loved being the dependable one.
The firefighter.
The rescuer.
The man everyone trusted.
Valerie’s eyes filled.
“When the elevator stopped, I thought it was fate.”
I stared at her.
She gave a bitter laugh.
“I know how insane that sounds.”
“You asked him to rescue you first.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing I was pregnant.”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked straight at me.
“Because I needed to know whether he had lied to me too.”
The room went silent.
“And when he carried you out?”
“I knew.”
May you like
“Knew what?”
“That he would destroy anyone to keep feeling like somebody’s hero.”
