Chapter 4: My Brother Chose My Wife
Rage flared inside me.
Hot.
Instant.
Completely useless.
"You know where she is?"
Daniel didn't move.
"Yeah."
"Then tell me."
"No."
I took another step toward him.
"She's my wife."
Daniel held my gaze.
"She's your wife on paper."
His words hit harder than I expected.
"That's my daughter," I snapped.
His expression softened for the first time.
"I know."
"Then tell me where they are."
"No."
I stared at him.
"You helped her?"
He didn't hesitate.
"I drove the moving truck."
For a moment, I couldn't process what he had just said.
"You... what?"
"She called me two weeks ago."
My mind went blank.
"Two weeks?"
Daniel nodded.
"She asked me if I still meant what I told her years ago."
"What are you talking about?"
He looked down the hallway toward the empty nursery.
"After Mom died, I told Hannah that if she ever needed real help, she could call me."
"No questions asked."
I shook my head.
"You had no right."
Daniel looked back at me.
"Neither did you."
The words landed like a punch.
I wanted to argue.
To tell him marriage was complicated.
That people made mistakes.
That temptation happened.
That none of this was as simple as it looked.
But every excuse died before it reached my mouth.
Daniel had seen the papers scattered across the kitchen.
He had seen the empty house.
Unlike me...
He had understood what they meant.
"When did you know?" I asked quietly.
"About Vanessa?"
I nodded.
"Hannah suspected before Grace was born."
My stomach dropped.
"No."
"She saw a message on your phone during her seventh month."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"You texted Vanessa that you missed her body."
The memory came rushing back.
Hannah standing in the bathroom doorway.
Holding my phone.
Crying.
Asking me to explain.
I remembered exactly what I had told her.
"It's nothing."
"Just office flirting."
"You're overreacting."
"Pregnancy hormones are making you paranoid."
I remembered something else.
After nearly an hour of arguing...
Hannah had apologized.
She apologized...
To me.
Daniel's voice pulled me back.
"That broke something inside her."
I looked away.
"She wanted to believe you," he continued.
"Even after that."
"Even after the hospital."
I slowly turned back toward him.
"She knew about the hospital?"
Daniel nodded.
"She woke up."
The room suddenly felt too small.
"What?"
"She woke up after Grace was born."
"You weren't there."
I couldn't breathe.
"She pressed the nurse call button."
"The nurse told her you had stepped into the hallway."
I remembered leaving.
I remembered checking my phone.
Calling Vanessa.
But I had never imagined...
Daniel kept speaking.
"Hannah asked for some water."
"The nurse helped her sit up."
"And then..."
He paused.
"She looked through the window in her hospital room."
Every muscle in my body locked.
"She saw you."
I didn't answer.
"She saw your hand around Vanessa's waist."
The image from the security camera flashed through my mind again.
Only now...
I wasn't seeing it from the hallway.
I was seeing it from inside Hannah's room.
A woman exhausted after eighteen hours of labor.
Still bleeding.
Barely able to sit upright.
Holding a plastic cup of water.
Watching her husband embrace another woman only a few feet away.
Daniel's eyes glistened.
"She told me she almost called your name."
I swallowed hard.
"But then Grace started crying."
He looked toward the empty nursery once more.
"So she picked up her daughter..."
"And decided she would survive first."
"Feel later."
The words crushed whatever strength I had left.
I leaned against the kitchen counter to keep from falling.
"She spent the next three months collecting everything."
Daniel's voice remained calm.
"Every hotel receipt."
"Every credit-card charge."
"Every lie."
"She met with a lawyer while you thought she was taking Grace to pediatric appointments."
I stared at the stack of documents Hannah had left behind.
Every page suddenly made sense.
Every highlighted receipt.
Every printed screenshot.
Every photograph.
She hadn't acted out of anger.
She had planned.
Patiently.
Carefully.
Methodically.
"Why didn't she say anything?"
The question came out as little more than a whisper.
Daniel looked at me for a long moment.
Then he answered with a sentence so simple...
It destroyed me.
"She did."
I frowned.
"What?"
"She told you."
"You just weren't listening."
Silence filled the kitchen.
Neither of us moved.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, Daniel reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.
He pulled out a small white envelope.
He held it out toward me.
"This is from Hannah."
I stared at it.
"What is it?"
"She told me to give it to you after you finished reading the first envelope."
My fingers felt numb as I took it.
On the front...
In Hannah's familiar handwriting...
There was only one word.
Trevor.
Not "Trev."
Not "My love."
Not "Honey."
Just my name.
I looked back up at Daniel.
He simply nodded.
"Read it."
I slowly slid one finger beneath the seal.
Inside...
May you like
Another truth was waiting for me.
End of Chapter 4.
