Chapter 2: The Envelope at the Door
PART 2
I didn't sleep.
Not one minute.
At 2 AM, my phone lit up.
A text from Chloe.
*"Jessi please.
I need to explain.
It's not what you think."*
I stared at those words until they blurred.
Not what I think.
I had seen them with my own eyes in that motel room.
I didn't reply.
By morning, Luca still hadn't come home.
But someone else showed up at my door at 7 AM — Marcus.
Chloe's father.
Wendy's brother.
He looked like he hadn't slept either.
"Jessi," he said quietly.
"I know what happened.
Chloe called me last night."
I stepped outside and pulled the door half-closed so the kids wouldn't hear.
"How long?" I asked.
He looked at the ground.
That was my answer.
"Marcus.
How long?"
"Eight months," he whispered.
"Maybe longer."
The air left my lungs.
Eight months.
That meant it had started around the time Luca told me we couldn't afford a family vacation.
Around the time he said money was too tight for me to cut back my hours at work.
Then Marcus reached into his jacket and held out a folded envelope.
"Chloe asked me to give you this.
She said you need to see what's inside before Wendy finds out."
I took it.
My hands were steady, but my chest was on fire.
I opened the envelope.
And what I saw made the motel receipt feel like the smallest part of this story.
---
What was inside that envelope?
May you like
Jessi thought the betrayal couldn't get any worse — but she was wrong.
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