Chapter 4: The Promise My Best Friend Made Behind My Back
I barely slept that night.
Marcus eventually left the bedroom and slept on the downstairs couch. He said he needed space, as if he were the person who had discovered an affair rather than the man who had created one.
At 6:17 a.m., I heard his phone vibrate.
I was awake.
He wasn't.
His phone was on the kitchen counter.
I walked downstairs quietly and glanced at the screen.
A message from Vanessa.
We need to talk before Emily meets Rebecca. She can't find out about the apartment.
My stomach tightened.
The apartment.
I looked toward the living room.
Marcus was asleep, one arm hanging over the couch.
I picked up my own phone and photographed the message.
Then another message appeared.
You promised me she wouldn't know.
I stared at those words.
What had Marcus promised Vanessa?
And why was she afraid I would discover an apartment?
I put his phone back exactly where it had been.
Then I made coffee and sat at the kitchen table.
At ten that morning, I would meet Rebecca.
But before that, I needed to understand why my best friend had become part of this nightmare.
At 8:30, Marcus woke up.
He walked into the kitchen wearing yesterday's shirt.
"Morning," he said.
I didn't answer.
He poured himself coffee.
"Are you still meeting Rebecca?""
I looked up.
"Why?""
"Because I think it would be a bad idea.""
"That's interesting.""
"Emily, she's emotional. She might tell you things that aren't true.""
I almost smiled.
"Unlike you?""
He placed his mug down.
"Please don't turn this into a war.""
I stood.
"You turned it into a war when you decided I wasn't entitled to know the truth about my own marriage.""
He looked at me.
Then his phone vibrated again.
He glanced at it and immediately turned the screen facedown.
I noticed.
He noticed me noticing.
Neither of us said anything.
At 9:15, I left.
The coffee shop was nearly empty when I arrived.
Rebecca was already sitting at a table near the window.
She looked younger than I expected.
Her dark hair was tied in a loose ponytail, and she wore a gray sweater. Beside her sat a baby carrier.
A tiny boy slept inside.
Daniel.
My husband's son.
I stood there for a moment, unsure what to do.
Rebecca looked up.
"Emily?""
I nodded.
"Yes.""
She stood.
"Thank you for coming.""
I glanced at the baby.
"Is that him?""
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"Yes. This is Daniel.""
I looked at his small face.
He had dark hair.
Marcus's dark hair.
And the same little crease between his eyebrows that appeared whenever Marcus concentrated.
I felt a wave of emotion I couldn't name.
He hadn't done anything wrong.
He was just a baby.
"He's beautiful," I whispered.
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
"Thank you.""
We sat down.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Rebecca opened her handbag and placed a thick envelope on the table.
"Everything is in here.""
I looked at it.
"What am I supposed to see?""
"The messages between Marcus and me. The dates. The apartment documents. And something Vanessa sent me.""
I opened the envelope.
The first page was a printed text conversation.
*Marcus — December 3:*
I wish I could tell Emily everything.
*Rebecca — December 3:*
Then tell her. I'm not asking you to hide me.
*Marcus — December 3:*
It's complicated. Vanessa says we need to wait.
I stopped reading.
"Vanessa says?""
Rebecca nodded.
"Keep going.""
The next message was from Vanessa.
Give him time. Emily is emotionally dependent on him. If you pressure him, he'll retreat.
I stared at the paper.
Another message followed.
Once he moves into the apartment, things will be easier.
My fingers went numb.
"Apartment?""
Rebecca nodded.
"Marcus rented a place for me.""
I looked up.
"When?""
"Last December.""
The same month as our anniversary.
I looked back at the messages.
There were more.
Don't tell Emily about the apartment yet.
Don't post photographs of Marcus.
Let him handle his marriage first.
Then I reached the final page.
It was a message from Vanessa.
I promise he'll leave her before the baby arrives.
I felt as though someone had punched me.
I put the paper down.
"Why would Vanessa promise you that?""
Rebecca looked directly at me.
"Because she told me she had been waiting for Marcus to leave you for years.""
I couldn't breathe.
"What?""
Rebecca hesitated.
Then she reached into her handbag again.
She removed a small photograph and slid it across the table.
It showed Vanessa and Marcus standing outside a restaurant.
Their hands were intertwined.
Not casually.
Not accidentally.
Their fingers were locked together.
On the back was a handwritten date.
Four years earlier.
I stared at it.
Four years.
Before Rebecca.
Before the baby.
Before the sweater.
I looked at Rebecca.
"How long have they known each other like that?""
Rebecca shook her head.
"I don't know. But there's something else.""
She opened her phone and showed me a voice message.
The sender was Vanessa.
The date was from six months earlier.
Rebecca pressed play.
Vanessa's voice filled the quiet coffee shop.
"Rebecca, listen to me. Marcus isn't going to leave Emily unless we give him a reason. I've known him for years. I know exactly how to make her walk away.""
My heart stopped.
Then Vanessa's voice continued.
"Just trust me. Once Emily believes she's the one who destroyed the marriage, Marcus will be free to start over.""
I stared at the phone.
Rebecca paused the recording.
"I don't know what she meant by that," she whispered.
But I did.
Or at least, I was beginning to understand.
My best friend hadn't simply helped my husband hide an affair.
She had been planning something.
Something designed to make me walk away from my own marriage.
And suddenly, I remembered the small blue box hidden in Marcus's closet.
The apartment key.
I looked at Rebecca.
"Do you know the address of that apartment?""
She nodded.
"Yes.""
"Take me there.""
Rebecca hesitated.
"Emily, are you sure?""
I stood.
"I've spent fifteen years trusting the wrong person. I'm done waiting for people to tell me what I deserve to know.""
Rebecca picked up Daniel's carrier.
"There's one thing you should understand before we go.""
I turned toward her.
"What?""
She looked down at the baby.
Then she whispered:
"Marcus doesn't just have a secret apartment. He has been paying someone to make sure you never discover what happened to your first pregnancy.""
My knees nearly gave way.
My first pregnancy.
Three years earlier, I'd suffered a miscarriage.
Marcus had held me while I cried.
He had told me it wasn't my fault.
He had promised we'd try again when we were ready.
I stared at Rebecca.
"What does my miscarriage have to do with any of this?""
She swallowed.
Then she opened her phone and showed me a photograph of a document.
At the top was my full name.
Beneath it was a date.
The date of my miscarriage.
And at the bottom was a signature that looked exactly like my husband's.
May you like
Rebecca whispered:
"Emily, I don't think your husband has been telling you the truth about what happened that day.""
Related Stories
