Chapter 10 - The Other Woman
Denise sat down.
Hard.
“What did you say?”
Officer Ruiz repeated it.
“Flight to San José. Tomorrow night.”
Denise shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
I watched her.
“Why?”
She didn’t answer.
Sabrina did.
“Mom?”
Denise whispered, “He said we were leaving Sunday.”
There it was.
Not speculation.
Confession.
Ethan stared at her.
“You were actually planning to leave?”
Denise looked trapped.
“We were going to start over.”
“With my money,” I said.
“Our money!”
“No.”
The word cracked through the room.
“For once, Denise, learn the difference.”
Officer Ruiz raised his hand.
“Everyone calm down.”
But Denise wasn’t listening.
She took out her phone and called Raymond.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
Then a message arrived.
Unknown number.
She stared at it.
Her face went white.
“What?”
She didn’t speak.
Sabrina took the phone.
Her eyes widened.
“What is it?” I asked.
Sabrina read aloud.
“Stop calling Raymond. He told me everything. He’ll be with me tomorrow.”
Denise stood.
“Who sent that?”
Sabrina scrolled.
There was a photo.
Raymond.
At a beach bar.
His arm around a woman maybe ten years younger than Denise.
Date stamp: three weeks earlier.
A second photo.
Raymond kissing her.
Denise made a sound like she had been punched.
I felt no satisfaction.
That surprised me.
I had imagined Denise hurting the way I hurt.
But watching thirty-one years of marriage collapse inside her face didn’t feel good.
It just felt empty.
She sat down again.
“He said he loved me.”
Nobody answered.
Of all the absurd things said that week, that might have been the saddest.
He said he loved me.
Sabrina knelt beside her.
“Mom.”
Denise pushed her away.
“No.”
“Mom, please.”
“I did this for you!”
Sabrina stood.
“No. Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Don’t put this on me.”
“I wanted you to have a future.”
“You stole from Dad.”
“Frank had plenty!”
“That doesn’t make it yours!”
Denise slapped her.
The sound echoed through the ballroom.
Everyone froze.
Sabrina slowly turned back.
Red mark on her cheek.
Ethan stepped forward.
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
Denise stared at her own hand.
Like she couldn’t believe it.
Sabrina whispered, “I’m done.”
She walked away.
Ethan followed.
Denise called after her.
“Sabrina!”
She didn’t stop.
I looked at Denise.
For thirty-one years, I had loved that woman.
At least I thought I had.
Maybe I loved the version of her I kept choosing to see.
She looked at me.
“Frank.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“You don’t get to say please now.”
“I made mistakes.”
“Mistakes?”
“I was scared.”
“You forged documents.”
“Raymond did that.”
“You moved money.”
She looked down.
“I thought you were going to leave me.”
“Based on what?”
She said nothing.
“Based on what, Denise?”
Finally:
“Because Raymond told me.”
I laughed.
“So the man who abandoned you for decades came back and said your husband was secretly evil, and you believed him?”
“He showed me documents.”
“What documents?”
She hesitated.
“Bank statements.”
My anger sharpened.
“What bank statements?”
“Accounts with your name.”
I stared at her.
“I don’t have secret bank accounts.”
“He showed me.”
“Show me.”
She unlocked her phone.
Scrolled.
Found screenshots.
Martin happened to be walking in as she handed it over.
I gave him the phone.
He studied the images.
Then zoomed in.
“These aren’t real.”
Denise blinked.
“What?”
“The formatting is wrong.”
He pointed.
“Wrong bank logo. Wrong account coding. Look at this routing number.”
Denise looked sick.
“He fabricated these.”
Martin nodded.
“Looks that way.”
For a moment, Denise became a victim too.
Then I remembered fourteen months of stolen money.
Forged documents.
Suit on the floor.
Years of choices.
Being manipulated explained something.
It didn’t excuse everything.
Martin handed back the phone.
Then his own phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“Understood.”
He hung up.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked at Sabrina, who had returned with Ethan.
Then at Denise.
“Police searched Raymond’s car.”
My stomach tightened.
“And?”
“They found passports.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
“Whose?”
Martin’s eyes landed on me.
“Raymond’s. Denise’s. Sabrina’s.”
May you like
He paused.
“And yours.”
