Chapter 5 - The Woman on the Other Side
Nia sat alone in Imani’s guest room when Lauren told her the first night had happened December 3.
Marcus had said December generally.
The date mattered.
December 3 was three days after Nia’s birthday.
Marcus had given her a gold bracelet and taken her to dinner.
Two nights later, he attended a commercial-property networking event with Lauren.
Afterward they went to a hotel bar.
Then upstairs.
Lauren’s voice shook as she spoke.
“I’m not asking you to feel sorry for me.”
“Good.”
“I’m trying to tell you the truth.”
“You had six months to discover truth.”
“I know.”
“Did you love him?”
Lauren was silent.
Nia immediately regretted asking.
But she needed to understand the shape of what had happened.
“Yes,” Lauren whispered.
Nia closed her eyes.
That hurt differently from sex.
Sex could be framed as hunger.
Love required construction.
Conversations.
Promises.
A private future built inside Nia’s public marriage.
“What did he promise you?”
“That he was going to leave.”
“When?”
“After Westhaven stabilized.”
Nia almost admired the efficiency.
Marcus had connected his wife, mistress, mother and investment property into one timetable.
“What did Denise know?”
Lauren exhaled.
“She came to my office in December.”
“December?”
“Yes.”
“What date?”
“I don’t remember. Before Christmas.”
“And she knew you were sleeping with him?”
Lauren hesitated.
“She suspected.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked me whether I believed Marcus would leave his wife.”
Nia pressed her palm against her forehead.
“And what did you say?”
“That Marcus told me the marriage was basically over.”
“What did Denise say?”
Lauren’s voice changed.
“She said, ‘My son says things when he is afraid of losing what he wants.’”
Nia looked toward the window.
That sounded exactly like Denise.
“What else?”
“She told me to end it.”
For the first time, Nia had no response.
Lauren continued.
“She said you didn’t deserve it.”
Nia felt anger rise.
“Don’t make her noble.”
“I’m not.”
“Because she knew and lied to me.”
“I know.”
“Did she ever ask Marcus to tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she tell you to tell me?”
“No.”
“Then she chose silence.”
Lauren said nothing.
Nia sat back.
“Why did she help with Carter Ridge?”
“That was separate at first.”
“At first?”
“Westhaven started before the affair.”
Nia knew that.
She had found the property in August.
Lauren had been introduced in September because she specialized in redevelopment transactions.
The emotional affair, according to Lauren, had begun in November.
The physical affair in December.
“Marcus said Denise’s house was in trouble,” Lauren continued.
“How much trouble?”
“Serious.”
“Foreclosure?”
“Not exactly. There were private loans and tax issues. Marcus was trying to restructure everything.”
“With my savings.”
“I didn’t know the source of the money until closing.”
“But you accepted your commission.”
“Yes.”
Nia appreciated the lack of excuses even while despising the answer.
“Why call now?”
Lauren paused.
“Because I ended it.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
Nia laughed.
“Convenient.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds like you realized his life was collapsing and didn’t want to be trapped underneath it.”
“Maybe part of me did.”
That honesty stopped Nia.
Lauren continued.
“But there’s another reason.”
“What?”
“I have messages.”
Nia sat straighter.
“Between you and Marcus?”
“And Denise.”
Nia remembered Tessa’s warning about preserving evidence.
“What kind of messages?”
“Texts. Emails. And one recording.”
“Recording?”
“I recorded a conversation with Denise in my office.”
“Why?”
“Because by March I realized the property situation was not what Marcus had represented.”
Nia frowned.
“What did he represent?”
“That Denise was temporarily in debt and Westhaven was a straightforward investment.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No.”
“What was it?”
Lauren inhaled.
“Marcus wasn’t trying to save Denise’s house.”
Nia’s heart started beating harder.
“Then what was he trying to save?”
“The family company.”
Nia stared at the wall.
“The company closed after his father died.”
“That’s what you were told?”
“Yes.”
Lauren became quiet.
Then she said, “It never closed.”
Nia’s mouth went dry.
Marcus’s father, Arthur Carter, had owned Carter Development Group, a small but respected construction business.
After Arthur died five years earlier, Marcus told Nia debts had swallowed the company.
The remaining assets, he said, had been liquidated.
Denise had repeated the same story.
“What company?” Nia asked.
“It operates under a different name now.”
Nia could barely speak.
“What name?”
“Carter Ridge Construction.”
The same words.
The same pattern.
Nia got up and walked to the mirror.
She looked at herself.
Thirty-four.
Married eight years.
Educated.
Successful.
Not foolish.
Yet three people had built an alternate version of her life around her.
“Who owns it?”
Lauren answered carefully.
“According to the documents I saw, Denise owns fifty-one percent.”
“And Marcus?”
“Forty-nine.”
Nia stared at her own reflection.
Then Lauren delivered the final blow.
“Your husband has been putting money into that company for almost three years.”
Three years.
Long before Lauren.
Long before the affair.
Long before the suitcase.
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Nia understood suddenly that infidelity was not the beginning of her betrayal.
It was simply the first door that had opened.
