Chapter 3: The Woman In The Photograph
I stared at the name for almost a full minute.
Emma Richardson.
A stranger.
At least, that was what I told myself.
Because the alternative was impossible.
Mark didn’t have secrets like this.
Not my Mark.
The man who brought me coffee every morning.
The man who cried when Lily said “Daddy” for the first time.
The man who held my hand during my mother’s funeral.
That man didn’t hide things.
Except he did.
And now I had proof.
“Who is Emma?”” I asked.
Zoe looked away.
“Chloe…”
“Who is she?””
My voice came out louder than I intended.
Lily was coloring at the kitchen table, and she looked up.
I immediately softened.
“Sorry, sweetheart.””
She smiled and went back to her drawing.
Zoe lowered her voice.
“I don’t know everything.””
“Then tell me what you know.””
She sat across from me.
“Last summer, Mark started acting strange.””
I swallowed.
“I thought he was stressed from work.””
“So did I.””
“What happened?””
Zoe looked at the envelope.
“I found messages between him and Megan.””
“About Emma?””
“Yes.””
I felt sick.
“What kind of messages?””
She hesitated.
“The kind where people talk about hiding something.””
My hands tightened around the paper.
“From me?””
“Yes.””
I stood up.
“I need to know everything.””
“Chloe—”
“No.””
I looked at her.
“I spent years defending him.””
My voice shook.
“I told people he was different. I told everyone I was lucky.””
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“I need to know if I was wrong.””
Zoe reached into her bag.
She pulled out her phone.
“There’s one more thing.””
“What?””
“A picture.””
She unlocked the screen and handed it to me.
At first, I didn’t understand what I was looking at.
It was a photograph.
Taken outside a restaurant.
Mark was standing beside a woman.
A woman with long brown hair.
They weren’t touching.
They weren’t kissing.
But they looked comfortable.
Too comfortable.
My eyes moved to the date.
July 14th.
My birthday.
The day Mark told me he had a late meeting.
The day he didn’t come home until midnight.
My chest tightened.
“He said he was working.””
Zoe didn’t respond.
“He said he was with his team.””
“I know.””
I looked closer.
The woman turned slightly toward the camera.
And suddenly I recognized her.
Not from meeting her.
From seeing her before.
In an old family photo.
My fingers went numb.
“No.””
Zoe watched my reaction.
“What?””
I looked at her.
“That’s not possible.””
“Chloe?””
I zoomed in.
The woman’s face became clearer.
And I felt like the floor disappeared beneath me.
Because Emma Richardson wasn’t just some random woman.
She was someone I had trusted.
Someone who had been inside my home.
Someone who had held Lily.
Someone who had smiled at me while keeping a secret.
“Who is she?”” Zoe asked.
I could barely speak.
“She’s…”
My voice broke.
“She’s Lily’s old babysitter.””
The kitchen went silent.
Zoe stared at me.
“What?””
I nodded slowly.
“Emma watched Lily when I went back to work.””
“When?””
“Two years ago.””
“Did Mark know her?””
I laughed once.
A painful sound.
“Of course he knew her.””
A memory flashed through my mind.
Emma saying goodbye at our front door.
Mark standing behind me.
Emma smiling.
Everything normal.
Everything innocent.
Or at least I thought it was.
My phone suddenly buzzed.
A number I didn’t recognize.
I stared at the screen.
One message.
*Chloe, I know you found out about Emma. Please don’t trust Zoe. She doesn’t know the whole story.*
My blood ran cold.
Because the message wasn’t from Mark.
It wasn’t from Megan.
It was from Emma.
I looked at Zoe.
She saw my face change.
“What is it?””
I slowly turned the phone toward her.
Zoe read the message.
Then she whispered:
“She found you.””
Before I could respond, another message appeared.
May you like
This time, only five words.
*Ask your husband about Lily’s birth.*
