PART5

“If you are reading this, it means Brad has finally started doing to you what he did to me.”

I stopped.

My fingers went cold.

The letter continued.

“My name is Vanessa. You don’t know me, but I was once the woman who believed Brad would protect me. I married him when I was twenty-four. I thought I had found a good man. I was wrong.”

I sat down.

Diane stood behind me.

I kept reading.

“He didn’t begin by stealing money. He began by making me doubt myself. He told my friends I was unstable. He told my family I couldn’t manage finances. Then he started controlling the accounts. By the time I realized what was happening, I had lost my savings, my house, and almost my relationship with my daughter.”

I swallowed hard.

“I tried to warn the woman he married after me. I never got the chance. He made sure she never heard my name.”

The next paragraph was underlined.

“I don’t want revenge. I want my daughter to know the truth about her father. And I want you to know that the documents in his office are not the only copies. He has another folder at the hotel. If he gets it before you do, he will destroy the evidence.”

I looked at the clock.

1:17 p.m.

Then I looked at the pharmacy bag.

Then at Brad’s phone.

I felt an overwhelming wave of anger.

Not the kind that makes you scream.

The kind that makes you suddenly see everything clearly.

I had spent years believing that a successful marriage meant being patient.

I had forgiven the late nights.

The unexplained expenses.

The unanswered questions.

I had convinced myself that love meant giving someone another chance.

But I was beginning to understand that sometimes the person asking for your forgiveness is simply buying time to hurt you again.

Diane placed a hand on my shoulder.

“We need to call a lawyer.”

I nodded.

“And the police?”

“After we speak to the lawyer. Especially about the forged documents and the medication.”

I looked at the coffee mug sitting on the kitchen counter in my mind.

The mug that said Best Husband.

I remembered what I had done that morning.

I had been so angry that I had put laxatives in Brad’s coffee.

It was dangerous, foolish, and something I deeply regretted.

I knew I needed to be honest with the lawyer and get proper advice. I wasn’t going to make another decision out of anger.

I wanted the truth.

I wanted my identity protected.

And I wanted every fraudulent document exposed.

Just then, Diane’s phone rang.

She looked at the screen.

Her face changed.

“It’s Chloe.”

She answered and put the call on speaker.

“Chloe, what’s happening?”

There was heavy breathing on the other end.

Then Chloe spoke.

“Is she there?”

Diane looked at me.

“Yes. She’s listening.”

A moment of silence followed.

Then Chloe said something I wasn’t prepared to hear.

“Mrs. Bradshaw, I’m sorry. I know I have no right to ask you for forgiveness, but I need to tell you something before Brad finds out.”

“What?” I asked.

“I wasn’t the only woman.”

“I know about Vanessa.”

“No,” Chloe whispered. “There was another woman before Vanessa.”

I frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

Chloe’s voice began shaking.

“Brad has been using the same method for years. He marries women, gains access to their finances, and then creates situations where they appear unable to manage their own affairs.”

My heart pounded.

“How many?”

“I don’t know. But I found records of at least two other women.”

Diane covered her mouth.

Chloe continued.

“And there’s something else. The woman who signed the document giving Brad control of your property…”

I waited.

“She wasn’t you.”

“Who was it?”

Chloe took a breath.

“His mother.”

I felt my stomach drop.

Brad’s mother?

The woman who had attended our wedding.

The woman who called me daughter.

The woman who brought homemade food to our house every Sunday.

The woman who had once hugged me and said, “You make my son a better man.”

I couldn’t speak.

Chloe wasn’t finished.

“Mrs. Bradshaw, I found a video recording on his office computer. It shows his mother signing the document and practicing your signature.”

I looked at Diane.

She looked just as stunned as I felt.

“Why would his mother do that?”

Chloe’s answer came quietly.

“Because she knows everything.”

Then the call suddenly disconnected.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

I looked at the open drawer.

At the photographs.

At the forged documents.

At the letter from Vanessa.

And finally, at Brad’s phone.

A new message appeared.

It was from him.

“Honey, I’m coming home early. We need to talk. Don’t open the door for anyone until I arrive.”

I read it once.

Then again.

Diane slowly walked toward the window.

A black car had just pulled into our driveway.

The passenger door opened.

A woman stepped out.

She wore a familiar cream-colored coat.

Her hair was perfectly styled.

And she was carrying a large handbag.

I recognized her immediately.

Brad’s mother.

Margaret.

But she wasn’t alone.

A young woman stepped out from the driver’s side.

She looked directly at our house.

Then she raised her phone and took a photograph.

Diane whispered:

“That’s Emily.”

Brad’s daughter.

The girl in the photograph.

The girl who had written that she hoped one day they could be a real family.

I stood frozen.

Then the doorbell rang.

Once.

Twice.

And on the third ring, Margaret’s voice came through the door.

“Open up, sweetheart. We know you’re inside.”

I looked at Diane.

She shook her head.

Then my phone vibrated.

An unknown number.

One message.

“DO NOT LET MARGARET ENTER. SHE IS NOT COMING TO APOLOGIZE. SHE KNOWS WHAT YOU FOUND.”

I looked through the window again.

Margaret was no longer smiling.

She was staring directly at the office window.

And in her hand was a key.

The same kind of key I had just used to open Brad’s locked drawer.

Then she called my phone.

I answered without speaking.

Her voice was calm.

Almost gentle.

“Darling,” she said, “I think it’s time you and I had a conversation about what really happened to Brad’s first wife.”

I tightened my grip on the phone.

She paused.

Then she added five words that made my blood run cold.

“Because I helped him do it.”

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART6…