Chapter 2
I didn't let Marcus answer the call.
I reached for his wrist before he could move away.
"Put it on speaker."
He stared at me.
"Nia, please."
"Put it on speaker, Marcus."
Vanessa stood beside us, trembling.
She looked as though she might collapse.
Marcus glanced toward the terminal.
Then he silenced the phone.
"Not here."
I laughed bitterly.
"Not here?"
I pointed toward the stroller.
"You kissed another woman in front of our daughters, but suddenly you're worried about privacy?"
People were watching us.
A dock worker slowed down.
A couple standing nearby whispered.
I didn't care anymore.
I had spent eight months protecting Marcus's reputation.
I made excuses when he missed birthdays.
I defended him when my mother questioned why he rarely called.
I told everyone he was sacrificing time with his family to give our daughters a better future.
Now I wanted answers.
Vanessa stepped forward.
"Marcus, who is calling you?"
He rubbed his forehead.
"It's someone from work."
I looked at the screen again.
"Then why does your coworker call herself your wife?"
His jaw tightened.
"I can explain."
Vanessa gave a broken laugh.
"You keep saying that."
Then she pulled her phone from her purse.
Her fingers moved quickly across the screen.
She opened a photograph.
It showed her standing beside Marcus in a white wedding dress.
He wore a dark suit.
They were smiling beneath an arch covered in flowers.
I recognized his smile.
It was the same smile he wore in our wedding pictures.
Vanessa turned the phone toward me.
"Five months ago," she whispered. "Charleston, South Carolina."
I couldn't stop staring.
Marcus had told me he was crossing the Atlantic that week.
He sent me a message saying the ship had limited internet service.
He apologized for missing Ava and Mia's first doctor's appointment.
He said he loved us.
While I sat in a pediatric clinic holding two crying babies, he had been getting married.
I felt physically sick.
"Did you know about me?" I asked Vanessa.
She shook her head immediately.
"No."
"Did he ever mention children?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"He told me he wanted children someday."
I closed my eyes.
That answer hurt more than I expected.
Our daughters already existed.
They were real.
They laughed.
They cried.
They needed their father.
And he had spoken about children as if Ava and Mia had never been born.
Marcus stepped toward me.
"Nia, I never stopped loving the girls."
I looked at him.
"Don't say their names."
He froze.
"You don't get to stand here and tell me you love them while pretending they don't exist."
Vanessa wiped her face.
"What about me?"
Marcus turned.
"Vanessa—"
"You told me your wife died in a car accident."
My breath caught.
A car accident.
He had invented a death for me.
She continued.
"You told me you couldn't talk about her because it hurt too much."
Marcus looked toward the water.
"You don't understand."
"Then make me understand!"
Vanessa's voice echoed across the terminal.
She pulled off her wedding ring.
For a second, I thought she would throw it into the ocean.
Instead, she gripped it tightly.
"Was any of it real?"
Marcus said nothing.
That silence answered more than his words ever could.
Mia began crying harder.
Ava joined her.
Their cries cut through my anger.
I bent over the stroller.
"It's okay, my loves. Mommy's here."
My voice broke on the final word.
Mommy's here.
Mommy had always been there.
But Daddy?
Daddy had been living a second life.
I straightened.
"Marcus, you're coming with me."
He looked surprised.
"Where?"
"To my mother's house."
Vanessa turned toward me.
"Why?"
"Because I want witnesses when he finally tells the truth."
Marcus shook his head.
"Nia, we should talk privately."
I looked at him.
"We did things privately for years. Look where that got me."
He reached for his duffel bag.
I stepped away.
"Don't touch the stroller."
His hand froze.
My anger frightened even me.
But I wasn't going to let him act like an ordinary father returning from work.
Not after what I had discovered.
Vanessa looked down at the twins.
Then she slowly crouched beside the stroller.
"Are these really his daughters?"
I nodded.
"Ava and Mia."
She touched her chest.
"They're beautiful."
Her voice cracked.
I watched her carefully.
She looked devastated.
Not jealous.
Not cruel.
Just destroyed.
For a brief moment, I saw another woman who had trusted the same liar.
Then Marcus's phone rang again.
He stepped away before I could stop him.
I watched him answer.
His voice dropped.
"I told you not to call right now."
He listened.
Then his expression changed.
"What do you mean you went to the house?"
My heart jumped.
Which house?
He turned his back.
"No. You can't do that."
Vanessa stood.
"Marcus?"
He ignored her.
I pushed the stroller closer.
"Who are you talking to?"
He ended the call.
His face was pale.
"I have to go."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"Something happened."
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
"You're not leaving us here."
He pulled away.
"I don't have a choice."
I stepped directly into his path.
"You have two wives standing in front of you and two babies crying in a stroller."
My voice shook.
"You don't get to disappear again."
He looked toward the parking lot.
Then he said something strange.
"Nia, take the girls home. Lock the doors."
I stopped.
"What?"
"Don't open the door for anyone you don't know."
Vanessa looked frightened.
"Why would she need to do that?"
Marcus didn't answer.
I felt a cold sensation move through my chest.
"Marcus, what have you done?"
He looked at me.
For the first time, I saw something beyond shame in his eyes.
Panic.
Then he whispered, "There are people who think I owe them money."
I stared at him.
"What people?"
He shook his head.
"I can't explain here."
Vanessa stepped closer.
"How much money?"
Marcus said nothing.
I remembered all the months he claimed he was sending money home.
The delayed transfers.
The unexplained bank fees.
The promises that his next contract would solve everything.
I had believed him.
Now I wondered whether any of that money had come from legitimate work.
"Marcus," I said slowly, "what did you use our marriage for?"
He looked away.
That was enough.
I reached into my purse and called my mother.
She answered immediately.
"Nia, baby. Did Marcus arrive?"
I stared at the man standing in front of me.
"Yes, Mama."
"Are you all together?"
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
"No."
My mother became quiet.
"What happened?"
I struggled to breathe.
"Mama, I need you."
Her voice changed instantly.
"Where are you?"
"The harbor."
"I'm coming."
I ended the call.
Marcus looked at me.
"Nia, please don't involve your mother."
I wiped my face.
"You lost the right to tell me who I can trust."
Vanessa stood beside me.
She looked at Marcus.
"I want my marriage certificate."
He frowned.
"What?"
"I want to know whether you actually married me."
Marcus swallowed.
"It's complicated."
Her face hardened.
"No. It's either real or it isn't."
He stepped backward.
Then his phone buzzed again.
This time, a text message appeared.
I saw only part of it.
THE MONEY IS GONE.
WE'RE COMING FOR WHAT YOU PROMISED.
Marcus shoved the phone into his pocket.
But it was too late.
I had seen enough.
The man I married wasn't simply cheating.
May you like
He was hiding something dangerous.
And whatever it was, he had brought it straight toward our children.
