Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
The photograph had been printed on glossy paper.
Not hidden on a phone.
Not buried in an email.
Printed.
Saved.
Nathan stood on a beach wearing a white linen shirt I had never seen before. His arms were wrapped around a blonde woman in a red dress, and they were kissing beneath strings of patio lights.
On the back, someone had written:
N + V
Our real beginning.
My hands started shaking.
There were more photographs.
Nathan and the same woman at a ski resort.
Nathan beside her at a charity gala.
Nathan holding champagne while she leaned against him on a balcony.
Different seasons.
Different places.
This wasn’t a mistake.
It was a relationship.
I sank onto the bedroom floor.
For years, Nathan told me he was studying whenever he disappeared for entire weekends.
He said he slept at the library.
He said medical school demanded sacrifices.
Apparently, I had been the only one sacrificing.
Beneath the photographs was a hotel receipt from Charleston.
Two nights.
$1,840.
Paid with a credit card ending in 4412.
I did not recognize the card.
Then I found an envelope.
Inside were copies of monthly statements from an investment account containing more than $212,000.
Nathan’s name was on it.
So was another name.
Victoria Harlan.
I froze.
Harlan.
The scholarship foundation.
I grabbed my phone and searched the name.
Victoria Harlan appeared immediately.
Thirty-one years old.
Daughter of billionaire healthcare investor Charles Harlan.
Board member of the Harlan Medical Foundation.
And smiling beside her in dozens of charity photographs was the woman from Nathan’s pictures.
My heart didn’t break this time.
Something colder replaced it.
Because now the story was becoming clear.
Nathan had received a scholarship from Victoria’s family foundation.
He had taken my money anyway.
Then he had begun sleeping with her.
But one question made no sense.
Why would a woman worth millions share an investment account with my husband?
I kept searching the drawer.
At the very bottom was a folder marked:
RESIDENCY — CONFIDENTIAL.
Inside were employment documents for Nathan’s new position at St. Catherine Medical Center.
His starting salary was far higher than he had told me.
There was also an apartment lease.
Luxury building.
Two-bedroom penthouse.
Move-in date:
Tomorrow.
Tenant one: Nathan Cole.
Tenant two:
Victoria Harlan.
I stared at the page until the letters blurred.
Then I noticed a handwritten note clipped to the lease.
May you like
Five words.
Make sure Emily signs first.
