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I stared at the screen, my thumb frozen over the transfer button.
The photograph showed Lucas sitting at an outdoor cafe, laughing as he held a newborn baby in his arms. Beside him wasn’t Melanie Harper. It was a woman with sharp dark hair and an icy, regal presence—someone I had never seen in my life.
Beneath the photo, a second text arrived:
The baby in this photo is eighteen months old. His name is Oliver. Lucas didn’t just start a new life in Palm Springs with Melanie. He already built one in Seattle three years ago with me. Melanie isn’t his mistress—she’s his paid surrogate.
My breath caught in my throat. The room seemed to tilt on its axis.
Lucas hadn’t just stepped out on our marriage. He had created an entire second life, complete with a secret marriage, a child, and now a surrogate to expand his secret empire. He was a master manipulator, running a web of deception that spanned multiple states and years of meticulous planning.
The phone rang immediately after. I answered, my voice steady despite the chaos roaring in my mind.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“My name is Victoria,” the woman’s voice replied, sharp and entirely devoid of emotion. “Lucas lied to both of us. But unlike you, I’ve been tracking his paper trail for six months. He didn’t just steal your inheritance, Clara. He mortgaged my family’s estate in Washington to buy property in California. He’s liquidating everything to run to a country with no extradition treaty once the Palm Springs house deal closes.”