My Husband And His Wife

Chapter Seven

The next afternoon, the air in the small, upscale bistro Sarah had recommended was thick with the scent of roasted coffee and expensive perfume. I sat at a corner table, my back to the wall, watching the door. I had arrived fifteen minutes early, partly because I couldn’t sit still in the mansion any longer, and partly because I needed to control the terrain.

When Elena walked in, she looked exactly as she had at the gallery-sharp, observant, and haunted by a memory she couldn’t quite place. She spotted me and navigated the tables with a tentative grace.

“Nara. Thank you for inviting me”, she said, taking the seat across from me. “Sarah said you had some news about a cousin? I’m happy to help, but I’m still a bit confused about why you wanted to meet so privately”.

I didn’t lead with a lie. I leaned forward, my fingers interlaced so tightly they were white at the knuckles. “Elena, I’m going to be very honest with you. My life depends on it”.

The color drained from her face. She sat back, her eyes darting toward the door. “Nara, what’s this?”

“The man you saw yesterday. My husband, Larry”, I said, the name feeling like poison on my tongue. “You recognized him. You said you saw him in Los Angeles four years ago. I need you to tell me exactly who you saw, and I need you to be honest”.

Elena’s expression shifted from confusion to a cold, hard clarity. She reached for her water glass, her hand trembling slightly. “Nara, I…I was a different person four years ago. I was wealthy. I had just inherited my father’s estate. And then I met a man called Julian Vane”.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Julian Vane? Not Larry?

“He was perfect”, Elena continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. “He was charming, attentive, and he knew everything about my father’s business. He convinced me to move my inheritance into an offshore trust he managed. He said it was for ‘our future’”. She let out a jagged breath. “One morning, I woke up, and the house was empty. “The accounts were empty. Julian Vane didn’t exist. He had vanished into the air, taken fifteen million dollars and my dignity with him”.

I felt the world tilt. It was the same script he was playing on me.

“Did he work alone?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

Elena looked at me, a flash of pity in her eyes. “No, he had a ‘sister’. Her name was Andrea. She was the one who actually found me at a charity gala and introduced us. They were a team. They were vultures”.

Anna…Andrea. The ‘sister’ who was actually the partner in crime.

“I tried to find them”, Elena said, her voice rising with a suppressed rage. “I went to the police, but the trail was cold. There were no photos, no real IDs. They were ghosts. Until yesterday. Until I saw your husband’s face”.

I sat in silence for a long time, the ambient noise of the bistro fading into a dull hum. I thought about Larry-Julian-watching me sleep. I thought about Anna-Andrea holding my hand while her partner in crime kissed me.

“Nara”, Elena said, reaching my hand. Her touch was cold. “If that man is your husband, you aren’t safe. He doesn’t just steal money. He steals lives”.

I looked up, my eyes hardening into a cold, dark resolve. “He won’t steal mine”.

I pulled my phone from my bag and opened the secure app Sterling had installed. I showed Elena a photo of Larry and Anna from our wedding.

“Is this them?” I asked.

Elena stared at the screen. A small, choked sound escaped her throat. “Yes. That’s Julian. And that’s Andrea. They look… different. More polished. But it’s them”.

I took the phone back. A small green dot blinked on the screen-the wiretap was still live. At this moment, Larry was likely at the office, pretending to be a loyal son-in-law, or with Anna, planning their next disappearance”.

“Elena, I’m going to get your money back”, I said, my voice as sharp as a diamond. And I’m going to make sure they never see the sun again. But I need your help. I need a formal statement, and I need you to stay in town until I say it’s over”.

Elena nodded, her jaw set. “I’ve waited four years for this, Nara, I’m not going anywhere”.

I stood up, leaving a stack of bills on the table. I walked out of the bistro and into the afternoon sun, but I didn’t feel the warmth. I felt the weight of the “game of shadows” I had promised to play.

I dialed Mr. Sterling.

“Mr. Sterling, I have a name”, I said as soon as he picked up. “Julian Vane and his partner, Andrea. Start doffing into the L.A. police records from four years ago. I want everything”.

I stood outside the bistro, watching Elena’s car disappear into the city traffic. My hand was still on my phone, my thumb hovering over my father’s contact.

I wanted to call him. I wanted to scream the truth. I wanted the police to swarm our house and drag Larry out in handcuffs.

But I stopped.

If I told Father now, he would react with Arthur’s fire. He would lock the accounts, alert the board, and Larry-no, Julian- would know the game was up. He and Anna would vanish into the night with whatever they had already stolen.

No. I couldn’t be the victim. I had to be the executioner.

I took a deep breath, the cold air stinging my lungs, and put my phone back in my bag. I wouldn’t tell my father. Not yet. I needed to see how deep this rot went. I needed to know if Julian and Andrea had infiltrated the company beyond just my husband’s desk.

When I walked back into the mansion, the house felt different. The gold leaf on the crown molding looked like tarnished brass. The expensive silk wallpaper felt like the lining of a coffin.

“Babe? Is that you?” Larry’s voice drifted from the study.

I closed my eyes for a second, forcing my facial muscles to relax, molding them into the shape of the ‘pretty, empty-headed girl' he expected.

“Yes, babe”, I called back, my voice light.

He stepped out into the hallway, a glass of scotch in one hand and a folder in the other. He looked like the picture of executive success. “How was lunch with Sarah? You were gone a long time”.

“It was lovely”, I said, walking toward him. I reached out and adjusted his cloth, my fingers inches from his throat. I wondered how I had ever thought this man loved me. “Sarah’s cousin, Elena… she’s fascinating. She was telling me all about her life in Los Angeles”.

I watched his eyes. For a split second, the pupils dilated. The hand holding the scotch stilled.

“Oh?” he said, his voice a perfect pitch of casual interest. “L.A. is a big city. Did she like it there?”

“She hated it”, I said, tilting my head. “She said she met some very… dishonest people there. People who pretended to be one thing but were actually another. They ruined her life, babe. Can you imagine being that cruel?”

Larry took a slow sip of his drink, the ice clinking against the glass, the only sound in the cavernous hallway. “The world is full of desperate people, babe. Sometimes they do things they aren’t proud of to survive”.

“Is that what you think?” I asked, my smile never wavering. “I think some people are just born without a soul. Anyway, I’m exhausted. I think I’ll take a long bath before we head to my father’s for the weekend”.

“The weekend?” Larry blinked. “I thought we were spending the weekend alone “.

“Father called,” I lied. “He wants to go over the final merger details at the estate in the Hamptons. He said he wants your ‘expert’ opinion on the south-west files”.

The bait was set. Larry’s eyes lit up with greed. The Hamptons estate was where the most private, high-level documents were kept. He thought he was being invited into the inner sanctum.”Well”, Larry grinned, “If the chairman insists, who am I to refuse?”

Late that night, while Larry was downstairs “finishing work”, I locked myself in the bathroom and turned on the shower to mask any sound. I dialed Mr. Sterling.

“I’ve started the deep dive into Julian Vane. It’s a mess. He didn’t just rob Elena; there are at least three other women in the California area with the same story. And Mrs. Vance…you need to know about the sister”.

“Anna?” I asked.

“Her real name is Andrea Miller. They aren’t just partners. According to a marriage license I found… they’ve been married for seven years”.

The bathroom spun. I grabbed the edge of the tub to keep from falling.

They weren’t 'siblings'. They weren’t just lovers... they were husband and wife. Every time I had welcomed Anna into my home, every time I had hugged her and called her my friend, I was hugging my husband’s real wife. How could she even let her husband be with another woman just for money? In my mind's eye, I saw ourselves in happier times, our friendly embrace leaving the mark of her wedding band imprinted on my shoulder, a silent, mocking testament to their ultimate betrayal.

“And Leo?” I choked out.

“The birth certificate lists Julian Vane as the father”, Mr. Sterling said softly. “They’ve been a family the whole time, a real family, Mrs. Vance. You were just their bank account”.

I looked at my reflection in the steamed-up mirror. I didn’t cry. The time for tears had ended.

“Sterling”, I said, my voice cold and hollow. “I want you to find the other women. The ones from L.A., if Julian and Andrea want a family reunion, I think we should give them one. But first… I want to know exactly how much of my father’s money has already crossed the border”.

“I’ll have the numbers by morning”.

I hung up and turned off the shower. I walked back into the bedroom, where my “husband” was waiting for me. He was lying in bed, reading a business journal, looking perfectly at home in a life he had stolen.

“Everything okay, babe?” he asked.

“Perfect”, I said, climbing beside him. “I was just thinking about the Hamptons. It’s going to be a weekend none of us will ever forget”.