Chapter 4: The First Wife
Derek didn't answer immediately.
He walked to the side table and poured himself a drink.
Took his time with it.
Set the bottle down carefully.
"Miriam was someone I was involved with," he said.
"A long time ago.
It didn't work out."
"She has your last name," I said.
"People keep names." He turned around.
"It doesn't mean anything."
"Were you married to her?"
A pause that lasted exactly one second too long.
"Briefly," he said.
"It was annulled.
It's not relevant."
Brenda moved toward me from the side of the room.
Her voice had shifted into something softer, more careful.
"Chloe, darling.
You've had a very emotional morning.
Why don't you sit down and I'll have someone bring you tea."
"I don't want tea," I said.
I kept my eyes on Derek.
"I want to know why your ex-wife sent someone here today to warn me."
"She didn't send anyone," Derek said.
"Vanessa acts on her own.
She always has.
The two of them were friends, briefly, and Vanessa has never quite recovered from—"
"From what?"
He stopped.
"From what, Derek?"
He set his glass down.
"From the fact that Miriam chose to leave.
It was her decision.
Nobody forced her to do anything."
"She left with nothing," I said.
"That's what Vanessa told me."
"Vanessa doesn't know what she's talking about."
"Then correct her.
Tell me exactly what Miriam left with."
Brenda stepped between us.
"This conversation is over."
"It isn't," I said.
Something shifted in the room.
I felt it before I saw it.
Two of Derek's uncles, who had been standing near the back wall pretending to look at their phones, quietly set their drinks down and moved toward the door.
They didn't want to be in this room anymore.
Derek noticed too.
He straightened.
Adjusted his cuffs.
"Chloe." His voice dropped to something intimate, private.
"I understand you're upset.
The morning was not what either of us planned.
I'll admit that.
And I'm sorry for the way things went with the — with the incident downstairs."
"The incident," I said.
"I handled it badly.
I can see that now." He took a step toward me.
"But I need you to understand that Miriam was a very troubled woman.
She made accusations.
She caused damage.
And when it was over, she was given a fair settlement and she chose to walk away from it."
"How much?"
He blinked.
"What?"
"How much was the settlement?"
His jaw moved.
"That's private."
"I'm your wife," I said.
"As of fourteen hours ago.
What's private between us?"
Brenda made a small sound behind me.
Not quite a word.
Derek looked at me for a long moment.
Then he smiled.
The same smile he had used at the altar.
Warm.
Practiced.
"I'll have my attorney send you the documents," he said.
"Full transparency.
That's what you want, and that's what you'll get.
But not today.
Today is still our wedding day, and I'd like to salvage what's left of it."
He extended his hand.
I looked at it.
"I'd like to make a phone call first," I said.
"Of course." He lowered his hand.
"Take all the time you need."
I walked back toward the hallway.
I could feel his eyes following me.
And Brenda's.
And the two uncles who had stopped pretending to leave.
I went to the small study off the main corridor, closed the door, and called the number that had sent me the four words.
It rang twice.
A woman answered.
Her voice was quiet.
Careful.
Like someone who had learned to speak softly in rooms where walls listened.
"You found me," she said.
"Are you Vanessa?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"I'm Miriam."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"I've been waiting for someone to call this number for eight months," she said.
"I sent it to three women.
You're the first one who called back."
Three women.
"He did this to others?" I said.
May you like
"He's been doing this for a long time," Miriam said.
"And I can prove it."
