Chapter 6 - THE AFFAIR THAT WASN'T THE WHOLE TRUTH
Ethan came home shortly after midnight.
When Daniel saw him, he dropped to his knees.
Ethan ran into his arms.
Whatever I felt about my husband, that moment was real.
Daniel buried his face in the boy's hair and cried.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
He sobbed.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I'm so sorry.”
Ethan wrapped both arms around his neck.
“Can I stay here?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward Vanessa.
“If that's okay.”
Vanessa nodded.
I walked upstairs.
For the first time since the mall, I needed distance from everyone.
A few minutes later, Daniel knocked.
“Emily?”
I almost ignored him.
Then I opened the door.
He stood in the hallway.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
He accepted that.
“I owe you the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa and I slept together when we were dating.”
The words hurt even though I already knew.
“How many times?”
“Three.”
“Did you love her?”
“I thought I did.”
“Did you love me?”
“Yes.”
I laughed quietly.
“Those answers don't fit together very well.”
“I was twenty-five and selfish.”
“And fourteen months ago?”
He looked at the floor.
“I didn't sleep with her.”
“Did you kiss her?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“Once.”
There it was.
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“After the DNA results.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
He looked at me.
“I was overwhelmed. She was crying. I was crying. We had just discovered we had a child together.”
“So you kissed.”
“Yes.”
“Did you stop it?”
“Yes.”
“Immediately?”
He hesitated.
I closed my eyes.
That hesitation answered everything.
“We never had sex,” he said.
“You want credit?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He swallowed.
“The mall wasn't what you think.”
“I watched her hold your hand.”
“She was scared.”
“About the threats?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every day I waited made telling you harder.”
“That isn't an explanation. That's cowardice.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
No defense.
No manipulation.
Just agreement.
“I kept thinking I'd fix everything first,” he said. “Get Ethan settled. Make sure Vanessa was safe. Figure out how to tell you. Then you'd never have to see the ugly part.”
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“The ugly part wasn't Ethan.”
His eyes lifted.
“The ugly part was you deciding I wasn't entitled to the truth about my own marriage.”
He looked devastated.
Good.
Some truths should hurt.
“I don't know whether I can forgive you.”
“I know.”
“And if I leave you, Ethan isn't the reason.”
“I know.”
“And Vanessa isn't even the main reason.”
He nodded slowly.
“I am.”
“Yes.”
For once, Daniel Bennett understood.
Then I asked the question that had been bothering me.
“Why did Vanessa say ‘nice to finally meet you’?”
“She wanted to meet you months ago.”
“Why?”
“She thought you should know about Ethan.”
That changed something.
Not enough.
But something.
“You stopped her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid you'd leave.”
I looked at him.
“And how is that strategy working?”
A broken laugh escaped him.
“Terribly.”
Downstairs, something crashed.
We ran.
Vanessa stood in the kitchen holding Ethan behind her.
A brick lay on the floor surrounded by broken glass.
Wrapped around it was a piece of paper.
Robert unfolded it.
NO CHRISTMAS EVE.
Police swarmed outside.
Then Margaret noticed something.
“There are no footprints.”
Snow covered the backyard.
Nobody had approached the window.
The detective looked upward.
The brick had come from inside?
Impossible.
Unless—
Robert examined the broken pane.
Then his expression changed.
“The glass is outside.”
Someone had broken the window from inside the house.
Everyone went silent.
There were eleven people inside.
Family.
Police.
Household staff.
Security.
One of them was helping the person behind this.
Margaret slowly turned toward the hallway.
“Mrs. Alvarez?”
No answer.
The housekeeper had disappeared.
Police searched her room.
Empty.
Her suitcase was gone.
So was an old family laptop Robert kept in the study.
Daniel cursed.
But I noticed Margaret wasn't angry.
She looked hurt.
Mrs. Alvarez had worked for the Bennetts for eighteen years.
Then a detective emerged carrying a photograph found beneath her mattress.
Charles Bennett.
Mrs. Alvarez.
Together.
The photograph was fifteen years old.
On the back:
To Sofia. Some debts are never forgotten. — C
Robert sat down.
Everything pointed toward Charles.
Too perfectly.
I remembered the planted hotel charges.
The obvious company SUV.
The warehouse.
The photograph.
Every clue arrived exactly when we needed it.
“Wait,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
“What if Charles isn't hiding his involvement?”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“What if someone wants us to believe he's behind this?”
Robert stared.
I continued.
“The hotel. The SUV. The warehouse. Now Mrs. Alvarez's photograph. Whoever is doing this keeps giving us evidence.”
Margaret understood first.
“Evidence doesn't normally behave that conveniently.”
Exactly.
Then Vanessa's phone buzzed.
A message from Tyler.
We need to talk. Alone. You were lied to about the DNA test.
Vanessa stared at it.
Daniel read it.
“What does he mean?”
Before she could answer, another message arrived.
May you like
Ethan isn't the reason Charles paid for the test. You are.
And suddenly the mystery changed again.
