Chapter 3: A Wife She Never Knew About
Rosalie's hand dropped from her belly.
"Say that again," she said.
Giancarlo didn't look away from her.
"He has a wife.
Her name is Dara.
They married four years ago.
They have a son."
The dining room chandelier hummed.
Somewhere in the house a clock ticked.
Rosalie heard both of those things with strange clarity.
"That's not possible," she said.
"We've been married for two years."
"I know."
"Then he would have already been—"
"Yes."
She turned to Caleb.
He was still leaning against the dining table where he had staggered.
His hand had come down from his face.
He wasn't looking at her.
"Caleb." Her voice was flat.
"Look at me."
He looked up.
His eyes were red at the edges.
Whether from the sl\*p or something else, she couldn't tell.
"Is it true?"
A long silence.
Then, very quietly: "It's complicated."
Millicent stepped forward.
"This is not the time—"
"Sit down," Giancarlo said.
He didn't raise his voice.
He didn't need to.
The bodyguard shifted half a step and Millicent stopped moving.
Rosalie walked toward Caleb slowly.
She stopped two feet from him.
"You married me while you were already married to someone else."
Caleb's jaw tightened.
"Dara and I were separated.
We had been for over a year."
"Separated is not divorced."
"It was going to be finalized.
There were delays with the paperwork."
"Caleb." She said his name like she was setting something heavy down.
"I am eight months pregnant."
He didn't answer.
"Did she know about me?"
Another silence.
That silence was its own answer.
Rosalie turned back to Giancarlo.
"How did you find out?"
"A friend of mine recognized Caleb at a school event six weeks ago.
Caleb was there with a woman and a boy.
My friend sent me a photo." He reached into the document folder and placed a photograph on the table beside the papers.
"I had a lawyer verify the marriage record before I came tonight."
Rosalie looked at the photograph.
A school courtyard.
Caleb in a blue jacket she recognized.
A woman beside him, her hand on his arm.
A small boy between them, maybe three years old, holding a paper crown.
Rosalie set the photograph face-down on the table.
"And the agreement," she said.
"The one about the baby."
"Void," Giancarlo said.
"You signed under duress and without independent legal counsel.
Our family's attorney confirmed it this afternoon."
Millicent's voice came sharp from across the room.
"Your family's attorney has no standing here.
This is between Caleb and his wife."
"Which one?" Giancarlo said.
The room went very quiet again.
Millicent's expression shifted — not fear exactly, but something recalculating behind her eyes.
"Rosalie," she said, her voice dropping to something almost gentle.
"You need to think about what's best for the baby.
Whatever mistakes Caleb made, this child deserves stability.
Our family can provide that.
Your brother cannot."
Rosalie looked at her mother-in-law for a long moment.
"You knew," Rosalie said.
"You knew about Dara."
Millicent said nothing.
"That's why you wanted the agreement.
That's why you needed it signed before the birth." Rosalie's voice didn't rise.
It went quieter.
"You were protecting yourselves.
Not the baby.
Yourselves."
Caleb pushed off from the table.
"Rosalie, just let me explain—"
"There's a car outside," Giancarlo said.
"Rosalie, we're leaving."
Caleb moved toward her.
"You're not taking my child out of this house."
Giancarlo stepped between them again.
This time he didn't sl\*p anyone.
He simply stood there, and the two bodyguards moved forward until they were shoulder to shoulder behind him.
Caleb stopped.
Rosalie picked up her hospital bag.
She walked to the door without looking back.
She was almost through it when Millicent spoke.
"If you leave tonight, you will regret it.
I promise you that."
Rosalie paused in the doorway.
She didn't turn around.
"I already have regrets," she said.
"But none of them are about tonight."
She walked out.
In the car, she held her bag in her lap and stared at the dark road ahead.
Giancarlo sat beside her.
Neither of them spoke for several minutes.
Then Rosalie said: "How long has Dara known about me?"
Giancarlo was quiet for a moment.
"That's what I haven't been able to find out yet," he said.
Rosalie nodded slowly.
May you like
She looked down at her hands.
"Find out," she said.
