Rise Of The Wasted Shadow Wife

Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Laura closed the emergency room door slowly after making sure Galen was back asleep. She took a deep breath, trying to stabilize the pounding of her heart that felt like it was going to explode. But as soon as she turned around, her body froze.

Axel was standing there.

Still with the same shady but probing face. He didn't say anything, just stared at her for a long time, as if he was putting the pieces of a puzzle together.

"Is he your son?" Axel asked finally, his voice low but clear.

Laura frowned, pretending to be confused. "Sorry?"

"That child. The one inside earlier. His face..." Axel paused, then continued in an almost desperate tone, "He's like a mirror of my childhood."

Laura chuckled, calm but not cynical. "That's funny. You're the third guy this week to say that to me."

"Don't play games," Axel said more firmly. "The look in his eyes and the lines on his face are no coincidence."

Laura took a breath, then looked at Axel. "I understand you might feel like you know someone's face or even suspect something. But Galen is my adopted son. I found him in an orphanage outside the city. I don't know who his parents are. I just know he was very sick at the time, and I couldn't bear to leave him alone."

Axel looked at her without blinking. He wanted to believe the words, but everything was too neat. Too perfect for a lie or a fabricated truth.

"And about me looking like the Alessia you're talking about," Laura added quickly, "I've heard that too. But I'm not her. My name is Laura Smith. I was born in Florence and raised in Paris. You can look up my life history. It's complete."

There was a pause. Silence. Axel felt like he was being dragged between the two realities of what he was seeing and what he was hearing.

"What if I find out, and it turns out you're Alessia?" he urged.

Laura smiled a thin, cold smile. "If you find that evidence, then I'll confess. But you won't."

Axel clenched his jaw. He wasn't sure who was playing smarter here, but one thing was for sure: this woman was no mere 'Laura Smith.'

A few hours later, night began to fall in full. The sky was shrouded in clouds, occasional lightning striking far to the north. On the balcony outside the hospital, Nadine stood waiting. When Laura came out, the two walked to the car, talking in hushed tones.

"Axel saw Galen," Laura said softly, still holding back the turmoil of her feelings.

"Does he suspect you?"

"She was suspicious, but I managed to deflect her. For a while."

Nadine nodded slowly. "Good. Because we can't let Axel know more."

***

The night at the Anthony family home was quiet, as usual. But not for Axel.

His head was filled with question marks that never got answers. His encounter with Laura, his suspicion of Galen, and, for some reason, the uncomfortable feeling that lately arose every time he looked at Nadine.

Nadine is the wife who has been faithfully accompanying him in silence and the role of companion. They were no longer as warm as they used to be, but he always thought their marriage was stable and normal enough.

Tonight, however, his hunch said otherwise.

Axel had just come down from upstairs when his steps stopped in front of his study at home. The door wasn't completely closed. From between the doors, he saw Nadine standing in front of her desk, unpacking some folders and opening her laptop.

He froze.

Nadine did not notice his presence. She seemed to be in a hurry to find something, opening internal work folders that didn't belong to her. There was something in his expression nervous. Like someone who wasn't working but intruding.

Axel backed away slowly, not wanting to be discovered. His breath caught.

Why did Nadine open my laptop?

What was she looking for?

And why had she been going out so much lately without explaining where?

A few days later, Axel was at a restaurant having lunch with a colleague. But just as he was about to enter the restaurant, he saw a very familiar figure. Nadine. But that wasn't what made Axel's heart stop beating for a moment.

Nadine wasn't alone.

She was sitting opposite Laura.

From behind the café glass, Axel saw them engaged in an intense conversation. Nadine was wearing a blue satin shirt and beige pants, looking relaxed but still elegant. Laura sat up straight, gesturing as if she was strategizing. They talked while occasionally glancing at the file between them.

Axel stood frozen.

He knew all of Nadine's friends, but never once had Nadine told him she knew Laura. His wife, the woman who slept in the same bed as him, was now meeting the woman who had been bothering him for the past week.

He decided not to go in.

From a distance, he watched Nadine hand a tiny flash drive to Laura, who immediately put it away in a small silver clutch. Then they chuckled and stood up and hugged. A hug that wasn't just social niceties.

That night, Axel sat alone on his porch. A lit cigarette in hand, though he had quit years ago. His eyes were empty. He heard Nadine's car pull into the garage but didn't move. Didn't say hello. Didn't ask.

Nadine entered the house, passing through the living room with quiet steps. She didn't realize that her husband had seen everything.