Chapter 3: The Wife He Buried
The photograph landed face-up on the marble floor.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Not Derek.
Not Brenda.
Not me.
The woman in the picture was smiling.
That was the detail I noticed first.
She wasn’t crying.
She wasn’t angry.
She wasn’t afraid.
She was standing beside Derek with one hand resting on his shoulder, wearing a wedding dress almost identical to mine.
A different woman.
A different wedding.
The same man.
The same smile.
The same promise.
My stomach twisted.
I bent down and picked up the photograph.
The paper was old, slightly faded around the edges.
On the back, written in black ink, was a date.
A date six months after Derek and I had met.
Six months after he had told me he had been “single for years.””
Six months after he had held my face in his hands and whispered that I was the first person who made him believe in love again.
I looked up slowly.
“Who is she?””
Nobody answered.
That was when I knew.
The silence was the confession.
The stranger standing in the doorway stepped inside.
His expression wasn’t angry.
It was something worse.
Tired.
Like he had carried this pain for a very long time.
“My name is Ethan,” he said.
I looked at him.
“I know.””
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“You know who I am?””
I nodded toward the envelope still visible inside my open suitcase.
“The name was on the letter.””
Derek’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“You went through my things?””
I turned toward him.
“No.””
I held up the envelope.
“You were so confident you had nothing to fear that you never even looked at what I brought into this marriage.””
Derek’s jaw tightened.
Ethan looked between us.
“Chloe, you need to hear everything.””
Derek stepped forward.
“No.””
The command came instantly.
Ethan didn’t even flinch.
“You don’t get to say no anymore.””
Brenda moved beside Derek.
“This is a private family matter.””
Ethan laughed quietly.
“Private?””
He looked around the room.
“Is that what you called it when you erased my sister’s entire existence?””
My fingers tightened around the photograph.
“Sister?””
Ethan nodded.
“The woman in the picture is my sister, Lauren.””
The name hit me.
Because Derek had never mentioned it.
Not once.
Not even accidentally.
I looked at my husband.
“You were married to Lauren?””
Derek rubbed his forehead.
“This isn’t what you think.””
I almost smiled.
People always said that when it was exactly what you thought.
“Then tell me what it is.””
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Ethan answered for him.
“He married my sister three years ago.””
The room tilted.
Three years.
I stared at Derek.
“When?””
Derek looked away.
“When did you divorce her?”” I asked.
Another silence.
Ethan’s face hardened.
“He didn’t.””
The word was quiet.
But it destroyed everything.
I looked at Derek.
“No.””
My voice came out smaller than I expected.
“You’re lying.””
Ethan shook his head.
“I wish I was.””
He opened the folder in his hands.
Inside were documents.
Pages.
Records.
Proof.
I didn’t want to look.
Some part of me still wanted to protect the version of Derek I had loved.
The part of me that remembered his laugh.
His kindness.
His hand holding mine on our first date.
But that version of him was becoming harder to find.
Ethan pulled out a paper.
“Marriage certificate.””
He placed it on the table.
“Derek Andrew Collins and Lauren Parker.””
My eyes moved over the page.
The names were clear.
The date was clear.
The signatures were clear.
Derek’s signature.
The same one on our wedding certificate.
The same handwriting.
The same man.
My chest felt hollow.
“You told me your previous relationship ended because she cheated.””
Derek looked at me.
“I was going to explain.””
“When?””
His silence answered.
“When we were married long enough that leaving would be harder?””
“Chloe—”
“No.””
I stepped back.
“Don’t say my name like you still know me.””
That hurt him.
I saw it.
For the first time, I saw something real on his face.
Not guilt.
Not shame.
Fear.
Because he realized I was no longer the woman who would accept his explanations.
Ethan placed another document on the table.
“This is a court filing.””
Derek immediately turned.
“Stop.””
Ethan ignored him.
“Lauren filed for separation after discovering Derek had been hiding money.””
Brenda stepped forward.
“That was complicated.””
I looked at her.
“You knew?””
She froze.
That was enough.
“You knew.””
Brenda lifted her chin.
“She was unstable.””
There it was.
The story.
The excuse.
The same one people used when they wanted to erase someone.
Ethan’s hands curled into fists.
“My sister spent two years believing she could fix him.””
Derek interrupted.
“She was mentally unwell.””
I turned toward him.
The words were so cold.
So effortless.
“You said that about your wife?””
He didn’t answer.
Ethan did.
“He said it about everyone who questioned him.””
The room became colder.
I looked at Derek.
“How did Lauren die?””
The question escaped before I could stop it.
Everyone went still.
Ethan’s face changed.
Pain crossed it.
Real pain.
“She didn’t die.””
I blinked.
“What?””
“She disappeared.””
Derek’s expression changed.
“Ethan.””
“No.””
Ethan looked at me.
“She disappeared eleven months ago.””
The words felt unreal.
A missing wife.
A hidden marriage.
A man who had walked into my life carrying an entire secret family behind him.
“Why didn’t anyone report her?””
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“They did.””
He looked at Brenda.
“Some people just made sure nobody looked too closely.””
Brenda’s face turned pale.
“That is a disgusting accusation.””
“Is it?””
Ethan opened another document.
“This is a copy of the police report.””
He placed it down.
“I found it after months of searching.””
Derek moved suddenly.
Too suddenly.
He reached for the papers.
Ethan stepped back.
“Don’t touch them.””
Derek stopped.
And I noticed something.
He wasn’t angry.
He was scared.
The kind of fear that comes when someone realizes the truth has finally escaped.
I looked at him.
“What happened to Lauren?””
“Chloe.””
“What happened to her?””
His eyes met mine.
For a second, I thought he might finally tell the truth.
Instead, he said:
“She left.””
I stared.
“That’s your answer?””
“It’s the truth.””
Ethan shook his head.
“No. It’s the version he tells everyone.””
I looked at Ethan.
“What’s your version?””
He reached into the folder.
And pulled out a phone.
“There’s something Lauren left behind.””
Derek went pale.
“No.””
The word came out almost like a whisper.
I looked at him.
“What is it?””
Ethan pressed the screen.
A video appeared.
A woman’s face filled the display.
Lauren.
Older than the wedding photo.
Tired.
But alive.
She looked directly into the camera.
And then she spoke.
“If you’re watching this, it means Derek found another woman.””
My blood ran cold.
Derek took a step back.
The room disappeared around me.
Because Lauren wasn’t speaking to Ethan.
She wasn’t speaking to the police.
She was speaking to me.
“To the woman who married him after me…”
The video paused for a second.
Then Lauren continued.
“Please listen carefully.””
Ethan handed me the phone.
My fingers trembled as I took it.
Lauren looked terrified.
And then she said the sentence that made every hair on my arms rise.
“Derek isn’t the man you think he is. He doesn’t hurt people because he loses control…”
A pause.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“He hurts people because he likes knowing he can.””
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Not even Derek.
Then his phone rang.
The sound cut through the silence.
He looked down.
And his face changed.
Because the caller ID wasn’t a stranger.
It was a name.
A name that shouldn’t have been possible.
A name that made Derek whisper:
May you like
“She’s alive.””
And then the front door opened again.
