CHAPTER 2 — The Secret Victoria Was Protecting
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
But by then, the damage had already been done.
Not to the nursery.
Not to the furniture.
To my trust.
I stood in the hallway outside the bedroom while officers questioned Victoria. Through the half-open door, I could hear her voice.
Calm.
Controlled.
Almost convincing.
That was what terrified me the most.
Victoria had always been good at appearing perfect.
She was the woman everyone admired.
The woman who donated millions to children's charities.
The woman who smiled for cameras and shook hands with politicians.
No one would ever believe that behind those perfect photographs was someone capable of tying a helpless woman to a bed.
But I had seen it.
And now I couldn't unsee it.
A detective approached me.
"Mr. Cole?"
I turned.
"Yes."
"I'm Detective Harris. We need to ask you a few questions."
I nodded.
But before he could speak, Emily called my name.
"Sir..."
I walked back into the nursery.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a blanket. A paramedic was cleaning the wounds on her wrists.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
The words shocked me.
"Sorry?"
She looked down.
"I should have told you sooner."
"Told me what?"
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"That your wife has been trying to get rid of me for months."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"Why?"
She hesitated.
"Because she doesn't trust me."
"That doesn't explain this."
"No."
Emily shook her head.
"It doesn't."
She looked toward the sleeping twins in the crib.
"She was afraid I would tell you the truth."
"What truth?"
Emily took a deep breath.
Then she reached into the pocket of her damaged uniform.
She pulled out a small envelope.
"I was going to give this to you tomorrow."
My hands went cold.
"What is it?"
"Something I found while cleaning the office."
I opened the envelope.
Inside were several printed emails.
At first, they looked ordinary.
Then I saw the sender.
Victoria.
The recipient.
A private adoption agency.
My eyes moved across the first message.
"The arrangement must remain confidential. My husband cannot know."
I stopped breathing.
I read the next line.
"Once the twins are legally secured, the nanny problem will be handled."
My fingers tightened around the paper.
"What is this?"
Emily's voice trembled.
"Your twins."
I looked up.
"What about them?"
"Sir..."
She swallowed.
"Those babies aren't the only secret your wife has been hiding."
A thousand thoughts crashed through my mind.
"What are you saying?"
Emily looked toward the door.
Making sure Victoria couldn't hear.
"Mrs. Cole has been meeting with a lawyer."
"Why?"
"To change the custody arrangements."
I stared at her.
"Why would she need that?"
Emily's eyes filled with sadness.
"Because she believes you're going to leave her."
The room went silent.
"Leave her?"
Emily nodded.
"She knows you would never forgive her if you discovered what she did."
I looked back at the emails.
There were dates.
Months of conversations.
Plans.
Documents.
Everything carefully hidden.
Then I noticed one name appearing repeatedly.
A lawyer.
A woman named Rebecca Shaw.
I recognized it immediately.
Rebecca Shaw was one of the most aggressive family attorneys in the city.
She didn't handle simple divorces.
She handled battles.
The kind where people lost everything.
My home.
My company.
My children.
My entire life.
The door suddenly opened.
Victoria stood there.
Two officers behind her.
Her expression had changed.
The charming wife was gone.
The woman standing there was someone else.
"Give me those papers."
I didn't move.
"Why?"
Her jaw tightened.
"Because they are private."
"Private?"
I lifted the emails.
"You planned to remove Emily from this house."
"She manipulated you."
"You called the hospital pretending to be a doctor."
Victoria's face froze.
Only for a second.
But enough.
"You don't understand."
"No."
My voice became colder.
"I understand perfectly."
She stepped closer.
"Daniel, think carefully. You're believing a stranger over your wife."
I looked at the woman I had loved for eight years.
The woman I had trusted with my home.
My children.
My name.
And I realized something painful.
I wasn't looking at my wife.
I was looking at someone who had been pretending to be one.
Then Detective Harris entered the room.
"Mr. Cole."
I turned.
"We recovered the nursery camera footage."
Victoria went completely still.
"And?"
The detective looked at her.
"The footage confirms Emily's statement."
Silence.
Then he added:
"But that's not the only thing we found."
My heart sank.
"What else?"
He held up a small evidence bag.
Inside was a USB drive.
"We found this hidden inside Mrs. Cole's office."
Victoria's face turned pale.
"What is it?"
Detective Harris looked at me.
"Something that appears to explain why she was so desperate to keep Emily quiet."
I stared at the USB drive.
A strange feeling settled over me.
The kind you get right before your entire world collapses.
Because deep down...
May you like
I already knew.
Whatever was on that drive would change everything.
