Chapter 4 - The Third Woman
I barely slept.
At six in the morning, Leah was sitting at my kitchen table with her laptop open.
Camille stood behind her.
I sat across from them clutching coffee I hadn't touched.
"This is bigger than infidelity," Leah said.
"I know."
"No, Vanessa. I need you to understand me. If Adrian used your information to obtain credit, forged loan documents, and redirected statements, you may be looking at identity theft and bank fraud."
Hearing those words made everything real.
"Can he take the house?"
"Not if we move fast."
My chest tightened.
"What do we do?"
"We document everything. You don't delete texts. You don't destroy papers. You don't warn him."
"I already confronted him."
Leah sighed.
"Then assume he's cleaning up now."
My phone buzzed.
A message from Adrian.
We need to talk privately. No lawyers. No Tiana. Just us.
I showed Leah.
"Do not respond yet."
Camille snorted.
"I'd respond with a police emoji."
"Camille."
"What?"
Leah almost smiled.
Then another message came.
I love you. I made mistakes, but outsiders are making this worse.
Outsiders.
My lawyer.
The woman he'd lied to.
Anyone except himself.
Leah looked at the screen.
"He's trying to isolate you."
I nodded slowly.
That was exactly what he'd done throughout our marriage.
Whenever Camille questioned him, Adrian said she was jealous.
Whenever my father challenged him, Adrian said Dad didn't respect our marriage.
Whenever one of my friends noticed something strange, he said single women gave terrible advice.
He hadn't just cheated.
He had spent years narrowing the number of people I trusted.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Leah nodded.
"Answer on speaker."
"Hello?"
A woman's voice came through.
"Is this Vanessa Cole?"
"Yes."
"My name is Brianna Hale."
Adrian's workplace.
I recognized the name.
He had mentioned Brianna before.
Always casually.
Always dismissively.
She's annoying.
She's dramatic.
She thinks every guy wants her.
My stomach tightened.
"What do you need?"
She hesitated.
"I think we need to talk about Adrian."
Camille mouthed, Third woman.
Leah held up a finger, warning us to stay quiet.
Brianna continued.
"He called me last night."
"What did he say?"
"That you found out about Tiana."
I closed my eyes.
"So you knew about her?"
"No."
The word came fast.
"I knew about you. Obviously. Everyone at work knows he's married."
My heart pounded.
"Did you have a relationship with him?"
Silence.
"Yes."
There it was.
He had admitted there were two women.
He had lied even while confessing.
"How long?"
"Five months."
I stood and walked toward the window.
"Did he tell you we were separated too?"
"No."
That surprised me.
"What did he tell you?"
"That you had an arrangement."
I laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
"He said you both dated other people."
"We do not."
"I'm sorry."
"Did you give him money?"
Silence.
Leah leaned closer.
"Brianna?"
"Yes."
My stomach dropped.
"How much?"
"Fifteen thousand."
"For what?"
"He said his father needed emergency surgery."
Adrian's father had died four years earlier.
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
Camille whispered, "Oh my God."
Brianna heard.
"What?"
"His father is dead."
Silence.
Then I heard Brianna inhale sharply.
"Since when?"
"Four years."
She began crying.
Not loudly.
The kind of crying people do when they're trying not to fall apart at work.
"He sent me hospital photos."
"What kind?"
"A man in a bed. Tubes. Machines."
"They weren't his father."
"I know that now."
Leah took over gently.
"Brianna, my name is Leah Morgan. I'm Vanessa's attorney. Please save every message, transfer, photograph, and email involving Adrian. Do not alert him."
There was a pause.
"Attorney?"
"Yes."
Brianna's voice changed.
"There's something else."
We waited.
"He manages expense approvals at work."
Leah's eyes sharpened.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know if it's related, but accounting has been asking questions."
"What kind?"
"Vendor reimbursements. Consulting invoices. Missing receipts."
I felt sick.
"Is Adrian under investigation?"
"I don't know."
"Why did he call you last night?"
"He wanted me to delete our messages."
The kitchen went silent.
Leah leaned toward the phone.
"Did you?"
"No."
"Good."
"He said his wife was unstable and might try to ruin his career."
Of course he did.
Same story.
Different woman.
"I'll send you everything," Brianna said.
When the call ended, nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then Camille whispered, "How many lives has this man been living?"
I didn't know.
That frightened me most.
By noon, Tiana arrived carrying a folder thick enough to make my stomach hurt.
It contained bank transfers.
Texts.
Emails.
Loan applications.
One document showed Adrian using Tiana's address as the mailing location for my personal loan.
Another showed him claiming he lived there.
"He used both of us," Tiana said.
"Not just emotionally."
"No."
She looked exhausted.
"We were infrastructure."
The word struck me.
That was exactly what we had been.
Homes.
Names.
Credit.
Money.
Excuses.
Cover stories.
Resources.
Adrian had connected our lives without letting us know the other existed.
Leah spread everything across the dining room table.
"We need to create a timeline."
For six hours, we did.
Every lie.
Every transfer.
Every night away.
Every fake emergency.
Every account.
Around four, my father arrived.
Camille had called him.
The moment Dad saw Tiana, he stopped.
I stood.
"Dad, this is Tiana."
His jaw tightened.
"I know who she is."
Tiana lowered her eyes.
"Mr. Cole, I didn't know."
Dad looked at me.
"Did she know he was married?"
"No."
He studied her for a long moment.
Then pulled out a chair.
"Sit."
Tiana looked surprised.
Dad's voice softened.
"If that man lied to my daughter and lied to you, then we aren't wasting energy fighting each other."
Tiana's eyes filled.
"Thank you."
He looked at me.
"I never trusted him."
I stiffened.
"Dad."
"I know. Wrong time."
"No. Say it."
Dad sighed.
"Three years ago, Adrian asked me for money."
"What?"
"Thirty thousand."
"For what?"
"He said your family was in trouble."
My chest tightened.
"What did you do?"
"I gave him ten."
Camille cursed.
"Dad!"
"He told me not to tell Vanessa. Said she'd be ashamed."
I covered my face.
"Of course."
Dad reached across the table.
"I'm sorry."
Leah suddenly looked up.
"What account did you send it to?"
Dad gave her the information.
She compared it to one of Adrian's private account numbers.
"Same account."
The room went quiet.
A pattern was forming.
Not random desperation.
A system.
Adrian wasn't merely lying whenever he needed money.
He had been collecting it.
Hiding it.
Moving it.
"Why?" Tiana whispered.
That question stayed with me.
Why sixty thousand from the house?
Why twenty thousand from Tiana?
Why fifteen thousand from Brianna?
Why ten thousand from Dad?
Where was it going?
Leah studied the statements.
"These transfers end somewhere."
She pointed to recurring payments.
"Daniel Mercer."
The wealth manager from the card I'd found.
"I want to know who he is," I said.
Leah nodded.
"I'll find out."
My phone buzzed again.
Adrian.
Then Tiana's phone.
Then Brianna called me.
"He just tried me too."
Three women.
Three simultaneous calls.
He was panicking.
I looked around my table.
My sister.
My father.
My attorney.
Tiana.
Evidence everywhere.
For the first time, Adrian didn't control the flow of information.
I answered.
"Vanessa."
His voice was tight.
"We need to meet."
"We don't."
"Yes, we do."
"Say what you need to say."
He hesitated.
Then his voice changed.
Soft.
Almost broken.
"I know I hurt you."
I closed my eyes.
"I know I destroyed things."
Tiana watched me.
Leah silently began recording notes.
"I can fix this," Adrian said.
"No."
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"There it is."
"What?"
"The threat."
"It's not a threat."
"It always becomes one when charm stops working."
He exhaled.
"Fine."
Silence.
Then he said something that made my blood freeze.
"Tell Tiana to stop talking to the police."
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
Neither of us had told him she'd filed a report.
"How do you know?"
Adrian went silent.
I repeated the question.
"How do you know she talked to the police?"
The line went dead.
Tiana slowly stood.
"I didn't tell anyone except you."
Leah grabbed her phone.
"Check your house."
Tiana's face tightened.
"What do you mean?"
"Cameras. Devices. Accounts. Anything he had access to."
Tiana looked terrified.
Then her phone chimed.
A security alert.
Motion detected inside her house.
She opened the live feed.
Her face drained.
I moved beside her.
On the screen, a man wearing a baseball cap was inside her bedroom.
Opening drawers.
Searching.
And when he turned toward the camera, I recognized him.
Marcus Bell.
May you like
Adrian's cousin.
The fake divorce attorney.
