CHAPTER 2 — THE WOMAN HE COULDN'T AFFORD TO LIE TO
CHAPTER 2 — THE WOMAN HE COULDN'T AFFORD TO LIE TO
No one answered Vanessa.
Every eye was locked on Adrian.
He looked from me to the security guards, then to the water bottle still clutched in Vanessa's hand.
The silence stretched.
Finally, Vanessa laughed.
"You know this temp?"
Adrian swallowed before speaking.
"She's..."
He hesitated.
A mistake.
The hesitation told me everything.
He wasn't deciding whether to tell the truth.
He was deciding which lie would cost him less.
"My wife," I finished for him.
The words echoed through the executive pantry.
The coffee pot slipped from the receptionist's hands and shattered across the marble floor.
One security guard blinked twice.
The junior analyst whispered, "His...wife?"
Vanessa stared at Adrian.
Then at me.
Then back again.
"No."
She laughed again.
Only this time it sounded forced.
"No, she's lying."
I quietly reached into my tote bag.
Inside was a slim leather folder.
I opened it.
Our marriage certificate.
Photographs from our wedding.
A copy of Adrian's emergency contact form listing me as his spouse.
I placed them on the counter beside the bottle.
No one spoke.
Vanessa's face lost its color.
She looked at Adrian.
"Tell them."
He said nothing.
"Adrian..."
Still nothing.
The answer was written all over his face.
For the first time since entering the room, Vanessa looked afraid.
Not because of me.
Because she suddenly realized she had never known the whole truth.
She had believed she was replacing a wife.
She never imagined the wife owned the company.
I picked up my phone.
"Mr. Ellis?"
The company's general counsel answered immediately.
"Yes, Mrs. Bennett."
"I need the Board assembled in the executive conference room."
"Immediately."
"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
I ended the call.
Then I looked at the security guards.
"No one leaves this floor."
Neither guard argued.
Neither looked at Adrian.
May you like
They looked at me.
For the first time.
