CHAPTER 2 — The Secret Behind Marissa’s Smile
I spent the night at a small hotel across town.
I didn’t sleep.
Every memory felt different now.
Every family gathering.
Every hug.
Every conversation.
Everything had a hidden meaning.
At 7:13 the next morning, my phone rang.
It was my mother.
I almost didn’t answer.
But something in her voice made me pick up.
“Emma… please tell me what happened.”
I froze.
“How did you know?”
There was a pause.
Then she whispered:
“Because Marissa called me last night.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did she say?”
My mother hesitated.
“She said you misunderstood everything.”
I almost laughed.
Of course she did.
Marissa was always good with words.
She could make anyone believe anything.
But then my mother said something that made me sit up.
“She also said something strange.”
“What?”
“She asked me if you still had your father’s old documents.”
I frowned.
“My father’s documents?”
My father had passed away five years earlier.
Before he died, he left behind several business papers and a small investment account.
Nothing huge.
But enough to help me start my own design company.
“Why would Marissa care about that?”
My mother went quiet.
Then she said:
“Emma… I think you need to know something.”
An hour later, I met my mother at a coffee shop.
She placed a folder on the table.
Inside were old emails.
Bank records.
And one name repeated over and over.
Marissa.
My hands became cold.
“She wasn’t just having an affair with Owen,” my mother said.
“She was trying to get close to you.”
I looked through the documents.
The truth slowly appeared.
Marissa had known about my father’s inheritance.
She had known about my company.
She had known everything.
And Owen…
He wasn’t the beginning.
He was part of the plan.
I found messages between them from months before their affair started.
One sentence made my entire body freeze.
“Once Emma trusts us completely, everything will be easier.”
I stared at those words.
They weren’t talking about love.
They weren’t talking about temptation.
They were talking about using me.
My cousin didn’t steal my husband because she wanted him.
She chose him because he was the easiest way to destroy my life.
That afternoon, I hired an attorney.
Not because I wanted revenge.
Because I finally understood something.
The woman who spent years pretending to protect me…
was the person I needed protection from.
That evening, Owen called twenty-three times.
I ignored every call.
Then one final message arrived.
“Please meet me. I need to tell you the truth about Marissa.”
I stared at the screen.
May you like
For the first time in days…
I wondered if there was something even worse I didn’t know.
