I stopped breathing.
I read it again.
Then again.
Sophia tugged at my hand.
“Mommy?”
I looked down.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Why are you shaking?”
I forced myself to smile.
“I’m okay.”
But I wasn’t.
Because suddenly, the other woman wasn’t the thing that frightened me.
It was the possibility that Dominic had been living an entirely different life behind my back.
A life I knew nothing about.
A life my brothers apparently knew something about.
A life Victor had been investigating long before tonight.
I typed another message.
Tell me everything.
This time, Victor answered immediately.
Not over text.
Then:
Get Sophia somewhere safe.
My heart stopped.
I stared at those words.
Get Sophia somewhere safe.
Not leave the building.
Not go home.
Not don’t confront him.
Somewhere safe.
I looked around the lobby.
Suddenly every stranger seemed suspicious.
Every security guard.
Every executive.
Every person pretending to calmly check their phone.
I pulled Sophia closer.
“Mommy?”
“It’s okay.”
I kissed the top of her head.
But my eyes were no longer calm.
Because Victor had never frightened me.
Not once.
My third brother was the kind of man who could walk into a room full of powerful people and make everyone else lower their voices.
He didn’t panic.
He didn’t exaggerate.
And he never warned me without a reason.
Something was coming.
Something far worse than an affair.
Then the elevator doors suddenly opened.
Everyone turned.
A man stepped out.
He was Dominic’s chief financial officer.
His tie was crooked.
His face was pale.
He looked around the lobby as if searching for someone.
Then his eyes landed on me.
He froze.
“Mrs. Vale?”
I nodded.
“Yes?”
He swallowed.
“Your husband is upstairs.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You don’t understand.”
His voice dropped.
“He isn’t waiting for you.”
My heart sank.
“Then who is he waiting for?”
The CFO looked over his shoulder.
Then whispered:
“The board.”
A pause.
“And the police.”
Everything inside me went still.
“The police?”
He nodded.
“And, Mrs. Vale…”
His eyes moved toward Sophia.
“You need to leave with your daughter.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked at the handmade necklace in Sophia’s hands.
Something strange crossed his face.
Sadness.
Almost guilt.
Then he whispered something that made the blood drain from my face.
“Because your husband isn’t being accused of cheating.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“He’s being accused of stealing.”
I couldn’t speak.
“Stealing what?”
The CFO hesitated.
Then came the answer.
“Money.”
My heart pounded.
“How much?”
He looked away.
“Enough to destroy the company.”
A cold feeling spread through me.
“But Dominic doesn’t control the company’s accounts.”
The CFO’s expression changed.
“He did.”
“Did?”
He nodded.
“Until twenty minutes ago.”
My phone vibrated.
Victor again.
This time there were only four words.
Ask him about Switzerland.
I stared at the message.
Switzerland?
What could Dominic possibly have to do with Switzerland?
Then I remembered something.
Three years ago, Dominic had taken a business trip there.
He had told me it was for a private investor meeting.
He had been gone for nine days.
When he returned, he bought Sophia a tiny silver music box.
I had never questioned him.
Not once.
Until tonight.
I slowly looked toward the elevators.
The doors were still open.
Beyond them waited the executive floors.
The woman.
The son.
The board.
The police.
And perhaps the truth about the man I had loved for seven years.
Sophia squeezed my fingers.
“Mommy…”
I looked down.
“Yes?”
“Are we going home?”
I stared at my daughter.
Then at the elevator.
Then at my phone.
I thought about Victor’s warning.
Ask him about Switzerland.
I took a slow breath.
“No, sweetheart.”
Sophia looked confused.
“We’re going upstairs.”
“But you said Daddy was in trouble.”
“He is.”
I squeezed her hand.
“And Mommy needs to find out why.”
The elevator doors began closing.
I stepped forward.
At the last second, someone caught them.
Chloe.
She slipped inside.
Her face was no longer smug.
It was terrified.
She looked at me.
Then at Sophia.
Then quietly said:
“Before you go upstairs…”
I waited.
Chloe’s voice trembled.
“You should know that Dominic wasn’t expecting you tonight.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t.”
The doors remained open.
“What are you talking about?”
Chloe looked at the elevator camera.
Then at the ceiling.
Then back at me.
“He knew you were coming.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He knew.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“And he told me to make sure you never reached the elevators.”
Silence.
I stared at her.
“Why?”
Chloe opened her mouth.
But before she could answer…
The entire building went dark.
And somewhere above us…
A woman screamed.
Sophia immediately covered her ears.
This time, I didn’t need Victor to tell me what to do.
I pulled my daughter against me.
And in the darkness, I heard a man’s voice coming through the emergency speakers.
A voice I recognized instantly.
Dominic.
“Vivienne…”
A pause.
Then, in a trembling whisper:
“If you’re hearing this…”
Another pause.
“…I’m already gone.”
And then the emergency lights came on.
Revealing something written across the elevator doors in red.
STERLING.
I stared at the word.
My secret family name.
The name Dominic had sworn he barely knew.
The name I had hidden from him.
The name that, somehow…
He had just used to summon me upstairs.
And for the first time that night, I realized something terrifying.
Maybe I hadn’t come to the gala to expose Dominic.
Maybe Dominic had brought me here…
Because he needed me to uncover the truth.
TO BE CONTINUED…
