Chapter 3 – The Woman Who Wanted My Life
I didn’t sleep.
Not that night.
Not after finding the photograph.
Not after reading the message.
Ask Ethan why he was really at your father’s funeral.
The words stayed in my head like a wound that refused to close.
I sat on the edge of the hospital bed until sunrise, staring at the photograph in my hands.
My father.
Ethan’s father.
Two men who were supposed to be enemies.
Two men whose families had spent years believing the other was responsible for their suffering.
And behind them…
A shadow.
Someone had been there.
Someone who knew the truth.
Someone who had spent years making sure we never found it.
The door opened at 6:17 in the morning.
I knew it was Ethan before I looked up.
I could feel him.
Maybe that was the cruelest thing about loving someone.
Even after betrayal, your heart still recognized them.
He walked in carrying coffee.
A small gesture.
Something he used to do every morning.
Before everything fell apart.
“I thought you might need this.”
I stared at the cup.
Then at him.
“Did you know?”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“About the funeral.”
The color drained from his face.
That was my answer.
I laughed softly.
“You did.”
Ethan slowly placed the coffee on the table.
“Emma…”
“No.”
I held up the photograph.
“Tell me the truth.”
He looked at it.
And the pain on his face confirmed everything.
“You found it.”
“Who sent it?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you know why you were there.”
Silence.
Again.
Always silence.
I stood up despite the weakness in my body.
My legs shook, but I refused to sit.
“I spent three years thinking our story began when we met at that bookstore.”
My voice cracked.
“You told me you saw me drop my books, helped me pick them up, and knew immediately that I was different.”
Ethan looked down.
“Was that a lie too?”
“No.”
His answer came quickly.
“No. That part was real.”
“Then what wasn’t?”
He looked at me.
“My reason for being there.”
The room became heavy.
“Tell me.”
Ethan took a deep breath.
“I followed your father’s investigation.”
I frowned.
“My father was investigating?”
“Yes.”
“Investigating what?”
“Fraud.”
I froze.
“Against his own company?”
“No.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Against someone inside his company.”
My mind raced.
“Who?”
He hesitated.
And then he said:
“Your uncle.”
The world stopped.
“My uncle?”
“Marcus.”
My mother’s brother.
The man who attended every family event.
The man who gave speeches at my father’s funeral.
The man who told me, “Your father would be proud of you.”
“No.”
Ethan nodded sadly.
“I thought the same thing.”
“You’re saying my uncle destroyed both families?”
“I’m saying he had the motive.”
I stared at him.
“And you knew this when you married me?”
“No.”
“You knew something.”
“Yes.”
His honesty hurt more than another lie.
“I knew there was a possibility.”
I turned away.
“You investigated me.”
“I investigated your family.”
“I am my family.”
The words silenced him.
Because he knew.
He knew he had crossed a line.
“I hated myself for it.”
“But you still did it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ethan’s eyes filled with regret.
“Because I wanted justice.”
I smiled bitterly.
“And did you find it?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I found you.”
That sentence would have melted my heart three days ago.
Now it only hurt.
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
I wiped my eyes.
“I don’t know what was real anymore.”
Before Ethan could answer, the door opened.
A police officer entered.
Behind him was a familiar face.
Vanessa.
She was handcuffed.
But she looked strangely calm.
Too calm.
The officer spoke.
“Mrs. Cole, Vanessa Hart requested to speak with you.”
Ethan immediately stepped forward.
“No.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Still protecting her?”
Her eyes moved to me.
“Or still protecting yourself?”
I looked at her.
The woman who almost killed me.
The woman who locked me inside a freezer.
I should have hated her.
But there was something in her expression.
Something I didn’t understand.
“Why?”
She tilted her head.
“Why what?”
“Why did you do it?”
Vanessa laughed.
“Because I wanted your life.”
The answer was so simple.
So honest.
It shocked me.
“You wanted Ethan?”
She smiled.
“No.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“I wanted what you had.”
She looked around the hospital room.
“The respect. The money. The family name. The perfect image.”
Her eyes hardened.
“You walked into his life and everything changed.”
“That doesn’t justify murder.”
“No.”
Her expression suddenly became empty.
“It doesn’t.”
For the first time, Vanessa looked tired.
Not dangerous.
Just broken.
“I loved Ethan.”
I said nothing.
“But Ethan never loved me the way he loved you.”
Her voice shook.
“That made me hate you.”
She looked at the floor.
“Because every time he looked at you, I saw everything I lost.”
I felt no sympathy.
Not yet.
Not after what she did.
“But that’s not the whole truth.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
Vanessa looked at Ethan.
“You didn’t tell her?”
Ethan’s face changed.
“What?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Of course not.”
The officer warned her.
“Ms. Hart.”
But she continued.
“Ask him about the letter.”
My stomach tightened.
“What letter?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Vanessa laughed.
“The letter from your father.”
I looked at Ethan.
“What letter?”
He looked trapped.
“Emma…”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“You said the letter belonged to your father.”
“It did.”
Vanessa smiled.
“But there was another letter.”
A cold feeling spread through me.
“From who?”
Vanessa looked directly at me.
“Your father.”
Silence.
“My father wrote a letter?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
No one answered.
And that frightened me more than anything.
Because missing evidence meant someone had hidden it.
And someone had gone to great lengths to keep it hidden.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Your father knew he was going to die.”
My breath stopped.
“He knew someone wanted him gone.”
The room became silent.
“He left proof.”
I looked at Ethan.
“You knew?”
His eyes filled with pain.
“I knew there was a possibility.”
Again.
That phrase.
A possibility.
A secret.
A hidden truth.
A marriage built on things I never knew.
“How much of my life was planned?”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Emma, please listen—”
“How much?”
His silence destroyed me.
I walked away.
Toward the window.
Because if I looked at him any longer, I might break.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice spoke.
Low.
Calm.
Terrifying.
“Emma Cole.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who is this?”
“You’re asking the wrong questions.”
I froze.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to stop looking for your father’s letter.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“The person who made sure your father never exposed the truth.”
My heart stopped.
“Where are you?”
Another pause.
Then the voice whispered:
“Closer than you think.”
The call ended.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Everyone was staring at me.
Ethan saw my expression.
“What happened?”
I looked at him.
For the first time, I didn’t see my husband.
I saw a man connected to a mystery.
A man who had secrets.
A man who might be the only person who could help me.
Or the only person who could destroy me.
“Someone called.”
Ethan stood.
“Who?”
I looked at Vanessa.
Then at Ethan.
“He knows about my father’s letter.”
The room went silent.
Because everyone understood one thing.
The person behind everything was still out there.
And they were watching us.
Three hours later, after the police removed Vanessa, Ethan found me sitting alone in the hospital garden.
The morning sun touched the flowers.
Everything looked peaceful.
But my life was anything but peaceful.
He sat beside me.
Not too close.
Respecting the distance I had created.
“I owe you the entire truth.”
I looked ahead.
“Yes.”
“I should have told you everything before we married.”
“Yes.”
“I was wrong.”
I looked at him.
“Why didn’t you?”
His eyes became red.
“Because by the time I realized my investigation had become my life…”
He swallowed.
“You had become my life.”
The words hurt.
Because I believed them.
That was the problem.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you.”
“I know.”
“But I need answers.”
“I’ll give them.”
“Even if they destroy you?”
He looked at me.
“Especially then.”
For the first time since the freezer…
I saw the Ethan I knew.
Not the liar.
Not the investigator.
The man who loved me.
But before I could respond, Ethan’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
A pause.
“No.”
Another pause.
Then his face went completely pale.
“Where?”
He ended the call.
I stood.
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“Your uncle.”
My heart stopped.
“What about him?”
“He was found unconscious.”
I stared.
“Is he alive?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Then why do you look terrified?”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“Because they found something beside him.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“A copy of your father’s missing letter.”
The world went silent.
“Someone wanted us to find it.”
Ethan’s eyes met mine.
“And someone wanted us to know…”
He stopped.
“What?”
His voice dropped.
“That your father’s final words were not meant for you.”
A chill ran through me.
“Who were they meant for?”
Ethan looked toward the hospital entrance.
Where two detectives were waiting.
May you like
Then back at me.
“For the person who killed him.”
