Chapter 2 - Two Versions of My Wife
Victoria set her handbag on the dresser as calmly as if she had walked into an ordinary family conversation.
“Don't touch anything else,” I said.
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Excuse me?”
“Emily says you tied her to that bed.”
Victoria looked toward Emily.
Emily flinched.
That movement answered more than words could.
Victoria noticed it too.
“She’s manipulating you.”
I laughed once.
The sound surprised me.
“Manipulating me?”
“Nathan, look at her.”
“I am looking at her.”
“No. You're looking at bruises. You're not asking how this started.”
Emily whispered, “Please stop.”
Victoria pointed at her.
“That.”
My wife’s composure sharpened.
“That helpless little voice. That is exactly what she does.”
I stared at Victoria.
“Her wrists are bleeding.”
“Because she fought me.”
My stomach turned.
“So you admit tying her up?”
“I restrained someone who became hysterical while holding our children.”
Emily’s face changed.
“That’s a lie.”
Victoria ignored her.
“She got a phone call. Started screaming. Tried leaving with Nora in her arms.”
“I never tried taking Nora!”
“Emily.”
I held up one hand.
“Let her finish.”
Victoria looked pleased.
“She was irrational. The babies were crying. She was threatening to leave them unattended.”
“I said I needed to go to my son!”
“And I told you I would call someone else.”
“You said Lucas could die for all you cared.”
Victoria shrugged.
“I was angry.”
The casual admission hit harder than denial.
I pulled out my phone.
Victoria’s expression changed.
“Who are you calling?”
“The police.”
“Nathan.”
“You assaulted an employee and restrained her for four hours.”
“Don't be ridiculous.”
Emily whispered, “Please call them.”
Victoria stepped toward me.
“Nathan, think.”
“I am.”
“No, you're reacting.”
Her voice softened.
That tone had ended arguments throughout our marriage.
Victoria knew when to lower her voice.
Knew when to touch my arm.
Knew when to make me feel unreasonable.
For twelve years I had considered it emotional intelligence.
Now I wondered what else it had been.
“This woman has hated me since before she came into this house,” Victoria said.
Emily looked at her.
“You knew?”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Knew what?”
“My name.”
I looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Emily slowly stood.
Her legs nearly collapsed.
I caught Noah before the carrier shifted.
She steadied herself against the bed.
“My husband was Jacob Parker.”
The name meant nothing immediately.
Then it did.
A construction accident.
Five years earlier.
One of my company’s projects.
My father had still been chairman then.
A scaffold collapse at Riverside Crown, a forty-two-story residential tower in Manhattan.
One man killed.
Two injured.
Jacob Parker.
I felt the room tilt.
“You're his widow?”
Emily nodded.
Victoria said nothing.
I looked at my wife.
“You knew?”
Her silence lasted half a second too long.
“I recognized the surname after we hired her.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“You asked the agency for me.”
“That’s absurd.”
“You knew where Lucas went to school.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
Emily continued.
“You knew what hospital treated him before I ever told you.”
“Enough.”
“You visited him.”
I turned.
“What?”
Emily stared directly at Victoria.
“Three months before I started working here, she came to St. Catherine’s.”
Victoria moved quickly.
“That is a lie.”
“I saw you.”
“You were exhausted.”
“You wore a gray coat.”
“Stop.”
“You stood outside Lucas’s room.”
Victoria took one step toward Emily.
I moved between them.
My wife stopped.
For the first time, I saw hatred on her face without disguise.
Not irritation.
Not frustration.
Hatred.
“You should be very careful,” she said to Emily.
I raised my phone.
“The police are coming.”
Victoria stared at me.
“You called?”
“Yes.”
Something cracked in her expression.
“Nathan, you have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I’m protecting my children.”
“From me?”
“Right now?”
I looked at Emily’s wrists.
“Yes.”
Victoria recoiled as though I had struck her.
Then her eyes filled with tears.
Perfectly.
Instantly.
“I gave birth six weeks ago.”
“Don't.”
“I haven't slept.”
“Don't use the babies to explain this.”
“You think I wanted this?”
“You tied a woman to a bed.”
“She was threatening my children!”
Emily shouted, “I was begging to see mine!”
Both babies began crying.
Emily immediately reached toward them.
Then stopped herself.
She looked at me instead.
“May I?”
That question destroyed something in me.
She was asking permission to comfort children she had spent four hours bleeding to protect.
I handed Noah to her.
She held him gently.
Victoria watched.
Something ugly passed through her eyes.
Jealousy.
I finally saw it.
“You hate her,” I said.
Victoria’s head snapped toward me.
“What?”
“You hate that they calm down for her.”
She laughed.
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“Have I?”
Sirens became audible outside.
Victoria looked toward the windows.
Then she grabbed her handbag.
“Don't leave,” I said.
“I need my attorney.”
“You need to stay.”
She started toward the door.
Emily spoke.
“Ask her about the settlement.”
Victoria froze.
I turned.
“What settlement?”
Emily was crying now.
“My husband’s.”
Victoria kept her back to us.
“The company said Jacob’s death benefit and liability settlement had been paid.”
I stared at Emily.
“It was.”
“No.”
My throat tightened.
“What do you mean, no?”
“I received sixty-three thousand dollars.”
“That can't be right.”
“The documents say seven hundred and fifty thousand.”
Victoria slowly turned around.
The sirens stopped outside our building.
Emily looked at me.
“Your wife signed the release.”
I stared at Victoria.
She looked suddenly tired.
Not afraid.
Tired.
As though a secret she had carried for years had finally become inconvenient.
There was a knock downstairs.
Then another.
Victoria whispered, “Nathan, whatever happens next, remember something.”
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“What?”
“Your father knew more about Jacob Parker than I ever did.”
