Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN I THOUGHT HAD STOLEN MY HUSBAND
Sophia Reynolds was the last person I expected to warn me.
I listened to her voicemail five times.
Then I deleted none of them.
At Stanford, Professor Hale was waiting outside the physics building when my rideshare arrived.
He looked older.
More gray in his hair.
Same brown corduroy jacket.
Same terrible shoes.
He opened his arms.
I hugged him.
And unexpectedly cried.
Not because of Adrian.
Because behind Thomas stood the building where I had once belonged.
“Welcome back, Dr. Bennett.”
I pulled away.
“Technically, Moretti.”
Thomas frowned.
“Not in my lab.”
I laughed for the first time in days.
The first week nearly destroyed me.
Software had changed.
Datasets were larger.
The research landscape had moved forward without me.
But equations still made sense.
Stars still obeyed rules that did not care who had disappointed me.
I worked until midnight.
Then until two.
By Friday, I had corrected an error in the team’s transient-detection algorithm that had bothered three researchers for six weeks.
Thomas read my notes.
Then looked at me.
“You were never gone.”
Something inside me healed one millimeter.
Adrian kept calling.
I did not answer.
His messages evolved.
Claire, where are you?
Then:
This isn’t funny.
Then:
Your attorney contacted mine. Call me immediately.
Finally:
You cannot just disappear from our marriage.
I stared at that one for a long time.
Apparently disappearing was acceptable only when he did it.
Sophia called again Saturday morning.
This time, I answered.
“Claire.”
Her voice sounded different than I expected.
Tired.
“Why are you warning me?”
“Because Adrian isn’t here for me.”
I went still.
“What?”
“He came because of Victor’s trust.”
My stomach tightened.
“You know about it?”
“I know enough.”
Sophia explained that her father had once handled real-estate financing for the Moretti family.
Before his death, Victor discovered financial irregularities involving Adrian’s uncle Carlo.
The trust containing my shares was tied to those transactions.
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither did I at first.”
“Then why did Adrian send you money?”
“Because my family has documents.”
“What documents?”
“Records Carlo wants destroyed.”
I sat down.
“Adrian told Daniel you needed him.”
Sophia laughed bitterly.
“Adrian tells people whatever makes him look necessary.”
That sounded painfully familiar.
“Are you and Adrian together?”
Silence.
Then:
“No.”
“Was he your first love?”
“Yes.”
“Does he still love you?”
Another pause.
“I think Adrian loves versions of people that make him feel important.”
That sentence landed hard.
Sophia continued.
“He gave me money because he wanted access to records my father left me.”
“Why stay near you for months?”
“He thought it would take time to convince me.”
I closed my eyes.
So perhaps Adrian had not gone to New York to restart a romance.
Strangely, that did not make his betrayal smaller.
It made it more calculated.
“He drafted divorce papers.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Claire, Adrian showed them to me.”
My breath stopped.
“Why?”
“He wanted me to believe he was leaving you.”
The room went silent around me.
“Why would that matter?”
“Because he thought I was still in love with him.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
Her answer was immediate.
Then Sophia said something I never expected.
“I was engaged six months ago.”
“What happened?”
“My fiancé died.”
I said nothing.
“I called Adrian because my father’s documents put me in danger. Adrian decided my grief meant I wanted him back.”
My disgust grew.
Sophia whispered:
“That’s what he does, Claire. He turns other people’s vulnerability into proof that they need him.”
For the first time, I saw her not as the woman Adrian had chosen over me.
But as another woman whose feelings he had interpreted according to his own ego.
“What exactly is in those records?”
Sophia hesitated.
“Evidence that Carlo Moretti stole millions from Victor.”
“Then give them to the police.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s evidence Adrian knew.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Knew what?”
“That Carlo was moving money.”
“How long?”
“Years.”
My heart began pounding.
“And there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Victor didn’t give you those shares only because he trusted you.”
May you like
Sophia lowered her voice.
“He gave them to you because legally, Adrian was never supposed to inherit control of Moretti Holdings at all.”
