Chapter 6: The Woman Wearing My Husband's Past
I stepped away from Claire.
"Who are you?""
She didn't answer.
Instead, she closed the laptop.
"Emily, you need to calm down.""
"Don't come closer.""
Her expression hardened.
"Daniel sent that message?""
I nodded.
She laughed quietly.
"Then he really is alive.""
"Who are you?""
Claire removed the red scarf from her neck.
Underneath it, a thin scar ran from her jaw toward her ear.
"I told you. My name is Claire.""
"Then why does Daniel say you're not his first wife?""
She looked toward the storage unit door.
"Because Daniel is trying to protect you.""
"From you?""
"From the truth.""
I reached for the door handle.
Claire moved quickly, blocking me.
"Listen to me. I have spent seven years hiding from men who wanted me dead. I lost my home, my family, and my identity. I didn't survive all that just to hurt you.""
"Then prove who you are.""
She opened a drawer and pulled out an old wedding photograph.
Daniel stood beside a young woman in a white dress.
The woman was clearly Claire.
But something else caught my attention.
The photograph had been taken inside a church.
On the back was a handwritten message.
To my beautiful Claire. Forever yours. Daniel.
I studied the picture.
"Anyone could have this.""
Claire sighed.
"Your husband had a scar on his left shoulder, didn't he?""
I froze.
"How do you know that?""
"Because I was there when he got it.""
She explained that Daniel had fallen through a glass door when he was nineteen.
His mother had rushed him to the hospital.
Claire had been his girlfriend then.
I felt a chill.
That was true.
Daniel had told me the same story on our honeymoon.
But it didn't prove anything.
Claire walked toward the desk.
"There's another way.""
She opened a small wooden box.
Inside were several old photographs and a silver bracelet.
I recognized it immediately.
Daniel had kept a matching bracelet in his bedside drawer.
He had told me it belonged to someone important from his past.
I had never asked who.
Claire placed the bracelet in my hand.
"Read the engraving.""
I turned it over.
D + C. June 14. Always.
My throat tightened.
"Why did you wait seven years to contact him?""
"Because the people who arranged the accident were still watching.""
"Then why contact him three months ago?""
"Because Richard made a mistake. He believed I was dead, and he started using my old accounts. I discovered he was preparing to transfer millions through a hospital foundation.""
"Northbridge Medical Holdings.""
Claire nodded.
"That's one of the companies.""
She pulled out a document.
It showed a list of financial transfers.
At the bottom was a name.
Victor Hale.
Then another.
Richard Lawson.
And finally, a name I recognized from my wedding invitation list.
Margaret Carter.
I stared.
"Why is my mother-in-law on this list?""
Claire sat down.
"Because Margaret wasn't only Daniel's mother. She was the financial controller of the original company.""
"She told me she had no idea what Richard was doing.""
"Margaret knows more than she's admitted.""
My mind returned to the accident.
The car.
The impact.
Margaret's warning.
Her insistence that I trust nobody.
"Did she arrange Daniel's burial?""
Claire shook her head.
"No. But she helped create the system that made it possible.""
I felt dizzy.
"Why would she do that to her own son?""
"Because Margaret has been protecting a secret for twenty years.""
Before I could ask more, a phone rang.
It wasn't mine.
It was Claire's.
She answered.
"Yes?""
A man's voice came through the speaker.
"He's awake.""
Claire stood immediately.
"Where?""
"Connecticut. The old workshop.""
My heart began racing.
"Daniel?""
The man continued.
"He's asking for Emily.""
Claire grabbed her coat.
"We're coming.""
I moved toward the door.
"Wait. Who was that?""
"Someone who helped Daniel.""
"Can I trust him?""
Claire looked at me.
"Not completely.""
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
We left the storage facility through the rear entrance.
Claire insisted we use a different car.
It was an old blue sedan parked behind a neighboring warehouse.
I sat in the passenger seat while she drove.
The road stretched ahead beneath a gray November sky.
For nearly thirty minutes, neither of us spoke.
Finally, I asked the question I had been avoiding.
"Did Daniel love me?""
Claire's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"Yes.""
"Then why did he never tell me about you?""
"Because he was ashamed.""
"Of what?""
Claire swallowed.
"He believed my death was his fault. After the accident, he became obsessed with protecting everyone around him. When he met you, he thought he could finally start again.""
I looked out the window.
"And now?""
"Now he's trying to finish what he started.""
We reached the farmhouse just before sunset.
The property looked abandoned.
Tall weeds covered the driveway.
The old wooden workshop stood behind the house, its windows dark.
Claire parked.
"Stay close.""
We walked toward the building.
The door was slightly open.
Inside, the smell of oil and old wood filled the air.
Tools hung from the walls.
A workbench stood beneath a dusty window.
And on the floor, beside a small space heater, was a man.
Daniel.
His beard had grown.
His face was thinner.
A medical bandage covered his chest.
But his eyes were open.
"Emily?""
I ran toward him.
"Daniel!""
He tried to stand.
I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around him.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
I cried against his shoulder.
He held me with one trembling hand.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
I pulled away.
"Sorry?""
His eyes filled with tears.
"You shouldn't have had to bury me.""
I slapped his chest.
Not hard.
But enough to make him wince.
"Do you have any idea what you put me through?""
"I know.""
"No, you don't! I stood beside your grave! I watched them lower you into the ground!""
He lowered his head.
"I thought I had more time.""
"Time for what?""
"To expose Richard.""
I looked at Claire.
Daniel followed my gaze.
His expression changed.
"Why is she here?""
Claire stepped forward.
"Because I brought your wife.""
Daniel tried to sit up.
"Emily, get away from her.""
I froze.
Claire's face became expressionless.
"Daniel, don't.""
He grabbed my hand.
"That's not Claire.""
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
"What are you talking about?""
Daniel looked at the woman standing beside the door.
"Claire died seven years ago.""
The woman slowly smiled.
Then she reached into her handbag.
Daniel whispered:
"Emily, run.""
A metallic click echoed through the workshop.
The woman was holding a gun.
And she wasn't pointing it at Daniel.
She was pointing it at me.
"Nobody move," she said.
Then she looked at Daniel.
"Hello, sweetheart.""
Her smile widened.
"Did you really think I would let you wake up and ruin everything?""
Daniel's face went white.
Because he recognized the voice.
It belonged to Vanessa Reed.
The woman from the photograph.
His former financial director.
And, according to Daniel, the person who had been standing beside him when he was buried alive.
She pulled a second photograph from her handbag and tossed it onto the workbench.
It showed a hospital room.
A young woman lay in the bed, connected to medical equipment.
Daniel stared at it.
"Where did you get that?""
Vanessa leaned closer.
"From the woman you thought was dead.""
I looked at the photograph.
The woman in the hospital bed had Margaret's eyes.
But she was much younger.
And beneath the photograph was a name I had never seen before.
*Claire Bennett.*
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Vanessa smiled.
"Now, Emily, shall we discuss who your husband really married?""
