Chapter 4: The Truth We Never Buried
I read the sentence again.
*Nia, if you are reading this, it means Marcus never told you the truth about what happened five years ago.*
My hands went cold.
Five years.
That was the year I met Marcus.
The year he proposed.
The year we got married.
The year I thought my life had finally begun.
I looked down at the photograph.
It was old.
The edges were bent, and the colors had faded slightly.
There was a younger Marcus standing outside a hospital.
Beside him was a woman I had never seen before.
And in his arms was a newborn baby.
I stared at the picture.
“Who is she?””
Marcus didn’t answer.
I looked at Rachel.
“Where did you find this?””
“In the apartment.””
“When?””
“Last night.””
Marcus took a step toward me.
“Nia, please give me that.””
I pulled it closer to my chest.
“No.””
“Nia.””
“No.””
My voice was shaking now, but I didn’t care.
“You’ve taken five years from me. You don’t get to take this too.””
Marcus stopped.
Rachel watched him carefully.
Even Lily had become unusually quiet.
I turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
A date.
Five years earlier.
And underneath it, a name.
*Sophie.*
My heart started pounding.
“Sophie?””
Marcus closed his eyes.
I looked at him.
“Who is Sophie?””
He said nothing.
I felt something inside me shift.
Because this was different.
Elena was a secret girlfriend.
Rachel was the mother of his child.
But this photograph belonged to a time before either woman had entered the story I thought I knew.
This was the beginning.
And Marcus had hidden it from me for five years.
Rachel stepped closer.
“He never told you?””
I looked at her.
“Told me what?””
She hesitated.
Then she looked at Marcus.
“Tell her.””
Marcus shook his head.
“You don’t understand.””
Rachel’s voice hardened.
“No. I understand perfectly.””
She pointed toward the photograph.
“You told me your past was complicated.””
Marcus said nothing.
“You said there was a woman before Nia.””
My stomach tightened.
“A woman before me?””
Marcus finally spoke.
“She was not my girlfriend.””
“Then who was she?””
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“She was someone I knew.””
I stared at him.
“That’s it?””
He looked at me.
“Yes.””
“Someone you knew?””
I held up the picture.
“You’re standing outside a hospital holding a newborn.””
His eyes dropped.
“And you want me to believe she was just someone you knew?””
He didn’t answer.
The room seemed to shrink.
I could hear the refrigerator humming in the kitchen.
The clock ticking on the wall.
Lily shifting quietly in Rachel’s arms.
Then Rachel spoke.
“Sophie was Marcus’s first wife.””
I stopped breathing.
“What?””
Marcus looked at Rachel.
“Don’t.””
But she kept going.
“She was pregnant when they separated.””
I looked at Marcus.
“First wife?””
My voice sounded distant.
“You were married before me?””
Marcus nodded.
Just once.
That tiny movement destroyed me.
“You told me I was your first wife.””
“I know.””
“You said you had never been married.””
“I know.””
“Why?””
He looked at me.
“I was afraid.””
I laughed bitterly.
“Afraid of what?””
“That you’d leave.””
I stared at him.
“You thought if I knew you had been married before, I’d leave?””
He nodded.
“So you lied.””
“Yes.””
“For five years.””
“Yes.””
My chest hurt.
But there was something else.
Something that didn’t fit.
I pointed at the photograph.
“Where is Sophie now?””
Marcus swallowed.
“She’s dead.””
Silence.
Even Rachel looked down.
My anger faltered.
“Dead?””
He nodded.
“She died a few weeks after Lily was born.””
I looked at the little girl.
Lily was staring at the floor, completely unaware that the adults around her were tearing apart the history of her family.
“How?””
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Car accident.””
I looked back at the picture.
The hospital.
The newborn.
Marcus.
A dead woman.
And a secret marriage.
I wanted to believe that was the whole truth.
I wanted to.
But something about his expression bothered me.
It wasn’t grief.
It was fear.
“Why was I never told any of this?””
He looked at me.
“Because after she died, I wanted to start over.””
“With me?””
“Yes.””
“So you erased her.””
“No.””
“You erased her from my life.””
“I was trying to protect you.””
“From what?””
He looked away.
I stepped closer.
“From what, Marcus?””
His lips parted.
Before he could answer, Rachel spoke.
“From the fact that he wasn’t there when she died.””
Marcus turned toward her.
“Rachel.””
Rachel shook her head.
“You can stop protecting him.””
I looked between them.
“What does that mean?””
Rachel took a breath.
“He didn’t lose Sophie.””
She looked at Marcus.
“He left her.””
The room went silent.
I stared at Marcus.
He didn’t deny it.
That frightened me more than anything.
“What happened?””
Marcus sat down.
For the first time since I had met him, he looked smaller.
Not innocent.
Not helpless.
Just cornered by his own past.
“Sophie and I were already separated,” he said.
“Why?””
“We fought constantly.””
“That’s not enough.””
He looked down at his hands.
“She wanted me to stay.””
“With the baby?””
He nodded.
“I couldn’t.””
“Why?””
“I was twenty-seven. I had a career starting. I wanted freedom.””
I felt disgust rise in my throat.
“So you walked away.””
“I thought I would come back.””
“Did you?””
“No.””
The answer was immediate.
Cold.
Final.
“Then what happened?””
Marcus stared at the photograph.
“She called me from the hospital.””
“What did she say?””
“She said the baby was born.””
“And?””
“I told her I couldn’t come.””
I felt my stomach drop.
“You couldn’t come?””
He nodded.
“Why?””
“I was on a business trip.””
Rachel suddenly spoke.
“You weren’t.””
Marcus looked at her.
Rachel’s eyes filled with tears.
“You told me that yourself.””
I turned toward Marcus.
“You lied about that too?””
He rubbed his forehead.
“I was seeing someone else.””
I almost whispered the words.
“You cheated on her.””
He nodded.
“With who?””
He said nothing.
I waited.
The silence stretched.
Then Marcus finally looked at me.
“I was seeing Sophie’s younger sister.””
Rachel gasped.
My entire body went still.
“What?””
Marcus closed his eyes.
Her name was already on the back of the photograph.
Sophie.
And now I understood why the name had felt so wrong.
Because the secret wasn’t only about a marriage.
It was about a family.
“You were with her sister?””
Marcus nodded.
“While Sophie was pregnant?””
“Yes.””
“And did Sophie know?””
He hesitated.
“Yes.””
I stepped backward.
My mind was spinning.
“What happened at the hospital?””
Marcus looked at the floor.
“She asked me to come.””
“And you didn’t.””
“No.””
“What happened after?””
“She stopped speaking to me.””
“You never saw her again?””
“I saw her once.””
“When?””
“The day before she died.””
I stared at him.
“What did she say?””
His jaw tightened.
“She told me Lily was mine.””
I looked at Rachel.
Then at Lily.
Then back at Marcus.
“And she left you that photograph?””
He nodded.
“Why?””
“Because she wanted Lily to know who her father was.””
I looked at the note again.
The handwriting was neat.
Feminine.
Steady.
Not the handwriting of someone writing in panic.
I turned the paper over.
There was more.
Another paragraph.
My pulse quickened.
I read silently.
Then I read it again.
The room seemed to tilt.
“No…”
Marcus stood.
“What?””
I looked at him.
My voice barely worked.
“Did Sophie know about me?””
Marcus went completely still.
Rachel looked confused.
“What are you talking about?”” she asked.
I held the note up.
“She knew my name.””
Marcus didn’t move.
“She mentioned me.””
His face went pale.
“How?””
I looked down at the paper.
The words were suddenly impossible to ignore.
*I know Marcus is going to marry Nia. I know he thinks she will never discover what happened between us. But one day, she will. And when she does, she deserves to know that the night he says he first met her… was not the night they actually met.*
My breath caught.
I looked at Marcus.
He looked terrified.
“Marcus…”
He backed away.
“You need to listen to me.””
“When did you meet me?””
He said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“When?””
He looked at me, and the truth finally appeared on his face before he ever said it.
“I met you before Sophie died.””
My hands began to shake.
“How much earlier?””
He closed his eyes.
“Three months.””
I stared at him.
Three months.
Three months before the wedding.
Three months before the proposal.
Three months before I thought our love story began.
Then Rachel slowly whispered:
“Marcus…”
But I wasn’t listening to her.
I was staring at the man I had loved for five years.
The man who had rewritten the beginning of our marriage.
The man who had hidden an entire family from me.
And now there was only one question left.
“What happened the night we first met?””
Marcus looked at me.
And this time, he didn’t say he was sorry.
May you like
He said something much worse.
“You weren’t supposed to survive that night.””
