Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The lights went out.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
The mansion that had always felt too large suddenly felt too small.
I stood in the darkness holding the photograph in my hand.
The woman in the picture was still there.
Still impossible.
Still alive.
A cold feeling moved through my entire body.
Because I knew her.
Not personally.
Not like Derek did.
But I knew her face.
Everyone in our city knew her face.
She had been on the news.
She had been in newspapers.
She had been the center of one of the biggest scandals connected to Derek Whitmore's company ten years earlier.
Her name was Claire Whitmore.
Derek's first wife.
The woman everyone believed had died in a car accident.
The woman Derek never talked about.
The woman whose death had happened exactly six months before he met me.
I had spent ten years believing I was the woman who saved him after tragedy.
Now I was standing in the dark, realizing I might have been chosen because of it.
"Derek."
My voice barely came out.
But everyone heard it.
Because silence had filled the room.
"Derek... why is your first wife alive?"
The question changed everything.
Vanessa stepped back.
"What?"
For the first time since I met her, she looked genuinely confused.
Not pretending.
Not performing.
Confused.
Derek didn't answer.
And that was the answer.
Adrian moved closer to me.
"Emily, give me the photograph."
I held it tighter.
"No."
My own reaction surprised me.
Because months ago, I would have handed it over.
I would have trusted someone else to explain my life.
Not anymore.
"I want to know."
Adrian looked at me.
Then nodded.
"You deserve to."
Derek finally spoke.
"Emily, listen to me."
I looked at him.
"No."
One word.
Simple.
But it made him stop.
"I listened to you for ten years."
My voice shook.
"I believed every excuse."
I looked at Vanessa.
"I believed every lie."
Then back at him.
"But I am not doing that anymore."
The emergency lights turned on.
The room returned.
But nothing looked the same.
Not the fireplace.
Not the furniture.
Not the man standing in front of me.
Because once you saw the truth, you couldn't unsee it.
Derek looked older.
Smaller.
Not because he had changed.
Because I finally saw him clearly.
"Claire is dead."
He said it quickly.
Too quickly.
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Interesting."
Derek looked at him.
"What?"
"You didn't ask who sent the photograph."
Silence.
Derek froze.
Adrian continued.
"You didn't ask where Emily got it."
Another pause.
"You immediately defended the lie."
Derek's jaw tightened.
"You don't know what you're talking about."
Adrian smiled slightly.
"I know exactly what I'm talking about."
Vanessa looked between them.
"Derek."
Her voice was softer now.
"What is he talking about?"
Derek ignored her.
That was when I realized something.
Vanessa thought she knew him.
She didn't.
She was just another person standing close enough to the fire to get burned.
"Tell me about Claire."
I said it calmly.
Derek stared at me.
"There is nothing to tell."
I looked down at the photograph.
"She was your wife."
"Years ago."
"And she died."
"Yes."
"Then why is she standing beside you in this picture?"
No answer.
The silence became unbearable.
Adrian stepped forward.
"Because Claire didn't die."
Vanessa covered her mouth.
"No."
Adrian looked at her.
"Yes."
The room shifted.
A secret that had been buried for a decade had just been dragged into the light.
I looked at Derek.
"Why?"
That was the only question I had left.
Why me?
Why our marriage?
Why all of this?
Derek ran a hand through his hair.
For the first time, he looked desperate.
Not angry.
Not powerful.
Desperate.
"Emily, you don't understand."
"Then help me understand."
He looked at Adrian.
A silent conversation passed between them.
A conversation filled with history.
Pain.
Betrayal.
Then Derek said something I never expected.
"Claire was never supposed to come back."
My stomach dropped.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
Derek looked away.
And I realized something worse than the lie.
He wasn't surprised she was alive.
He was afraid she was alive.
I took a step back.
"You knew."
Derek looked at me.
"I thought she was gone."
"Thought?"
My voice rose.
"You thought?"
I held up the photograph.
"This woman has been alive this whole time."
"Emily—"
"No."
I shook my head.
"No more."
I was tired.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
I was tired of being the last person to know.
Adrian reached into his pocket and removed his phone.
"I need to show you something."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"A message."
He unlocked the screen.
Then turned it toward me.
The message was from an unknown number.
One sentence.
I read it once.
Then again.
Because my brain refused to accept it.
The message said:
"She finally knows the truth. Bring her to me before Derek finds her."
My hands became cold.
"Who sent this?"
Adrian's face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
Because whatever answer he had...
I knew I wasn't going to like it.
Before he could respond, Derek suddenly moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
He grabbed the phone from Adrian's hand.
A mistake.
A desperate mistake.
Because now I knew.
He wasn't trying to hide the message.
He was trying to hide who sent it.
"Derek."
My voice was quiet.
He stopped.
"What are you doing?"
His hand slowly lowered.
And for a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Adrian looked toward the hallway.
His expression changed.
"Someone is here."
My heart started beating faster.
"What?"
Adrian didn't answer.
He was listening.
Then we heard it.
A sound from upstairs.
A door opening.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Derek's face lost all color.
Because he knew that sound.
I turned toward the staircase.
And then a woman's voice whispered my name from the darkness above.
May you like
"Emily..."
The person standing at the top of the stairs was the woman in the photograph.
