The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away Chapter 10

The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away Chapter 10

For the next three days, I contacted no one.

Marcus sent messages that Lignored. Vanessa stayed silent.

My mother-in-law called twice, and I declined both calls.

I used the time to organize every transfer, screenshot, recording, post, and lead in chronological order.

Eleven months showed Vanessa changing from my closest friend into a third person inside my marriage

while I remained the last to know.

Dana called on the third evening. I leaned back in the hotel chair, tapping my fingers against the desk as she

spoke.

“I found something else,” she said. “Do you want to hear it?” “Tell me.”

Her contact at the precinct confirmed Vanessa had asked for information but never filed a formal complaint.

She could not show unlawful harassment or defamation because my post had not named her and the photograph came from her account.

“So the police-station post was another performance,” I said.

“Yes. It was for the audience.

She wanted to look like the victim.”

I sent Dana the name attached to Marcus’s seventy-dollar September transfer and asked her to investigate

After the call, I reviewed all the evidence from beginning to end. One detail in Vanessa’s coffee-shop

screenshot kept bothering me.

She claimed it proved Marcus had pursued a former coworker before her. The woman’s avatar was a flower,

and the nickname was Little Deer.

The messages from July were intimate.

Then I noticed the header: [Contact deleted.]

The screenshot had been captured after Marcus deleted the woman.

That small label changed the meaning of the entire image.

It was no longer a confession Marcus had voluntarily preserved; it was material Vanessa had collected from

his device.

Who would preserve a deleted conversation unless the person taking the screenshot was not Marcus?

Vanessa had used his phone.

When had she gained access? Why had she saved it?

At the coffee shop, she had used the image to tell me Marcus was a habitual cheater who would never

change.

She wanted me to abandon the marriage completely, not because she was helping me but because she

wanted the empty place.

I did not know what else she had copied from his phone. I closed my eyes, certain only that she understood

its contents better than I did.

Their relationship was much deeper than Marcus admitted.

Dana messaged on the fourth morning.

[The recipient is Vanessa’s cousin.]

Marcus had sent money to my best friend’s cousin. I could think of no reasonable explanation.

I added it to the timeline and made a decision.

Lydia: [Tomorrow at three. Our condo.

Bring Vanessa. The three of us will talk.]

Marcus: [Why involve her?]

Lydia: [Invite her, or I will.]

He did not answer at first. An hour later, he agreed.

I stood before the hotel mirror. I had lost weight, and the circles beneath my eyes had deepened.

But my gaze was clear.

“Tomorrow, this ends.”

At three, I reached the condo, drew a deep breath, and went inside.

Marcus sat in the living room with Vanessa opposite him. The coffee table separated them at a carefully

respectable distance.

Both looked at me. Marcus stood; Vanessa did not.

I pulled out a dining chair, set my bag on the table and removed a document envelope.

“We tell the truth today. Then it’s over.”

Marcus glanced at the envelope. “What is that?”

I faced Vanessa.

“When you moved in with Derek last May, were you already in contact with Marcus?”

Her face changed. She glanced at him.

Marcus frowned. “How do you know Derek?”

“I’m asking her.”

Vanessa pressed her lips together. “Marcus and I were ordinary friends.”

“Derek told you to leave because you were flirting with someone else. Was that person Marcus?”

Her hands clenched the fabric over her knees.

“Who told you?”

“After he threw you out, you said that man’s wife adored you and you would always have somewhere to go.

Was I that wife?”

The living room fell silent.

Marcus turned toward her. “You said that?”

Vanessa stared at the floor.

I reminded her that on moving day, I had carried boxes and loaned her cash while Marcus transferred money

from our joint account.

“That was a loan.”

“How much have you repaid?”