I Want Them to Pay in Blood

Hearing this, a leaden weight settled in my stomach.

I had asked Marco to buy that watch for me. It was meant to be a wedding anniversary gift for Julian, but around that time, he’d been dropping hints left and right about wanting a new Aston Martin.

So, I’d gotten him the car instead. The Patek Philippe Marco mentioned was still locked away in my bedroom safe.

Marco had betrayed me.

His question hung on the screen. I suppressed the fear coiling in my gut and typed back with feigned calm.

"That's good to hear. Julian was saying work has been a bit rough lately, and I was worried. If there's anything he needs help with, Marco, please give him a hand."

After sending the message, I couldn't sit still.

The truth was laid bare before me. I had to do something.

I went to the study, searching for any clue. In my haste, I jostled a drawer, and it slid open.

A child's smartphone, hidden in the back, came into view.

It was Daisy's.

I was so afraid of her getting addicted to screens that I'd set a password on it after teaching her how to use it.

There was a private social media account on the phone.

On it, she had written in her childish scrawl:

Auntie Chloe cried. Dad said she is my other mommy, but I have a mommy.

Does Mommy not want me?

...

Auntie Chloe came today. She brought me the new LEGOs and taught me how to draw. She is so nice.

I have two mommies. Is two mommies a happy thing?

...

Dad took me to see Auntie Chloe again. She smells so good. Dad said Auntie Chloe had a hard time having me, and he feels sorry for Mommy.

...

Mommy said no ice cream today. I hate her. Bad mommy.

Chloe is my real mommy.

The posts documented her journey from confusion to acceptance of Chloe.

A dull, numb ache lodged itself deep in my chest.

Thinking of how she had so sweetly called me "Mommy" just this morning, the whole situation felt like a grotesque joke.

My entire life was a colossal joke.

My husband and my best friend were together, the daughter I'd raised for four years wasn't mine, and the empire my father had built was about to be stolen from under me.

I was the only one who had been kept in the dark.

The phone buzzed, startling me. I put everything back where I'd found it, a deep unease settling over me.

Sure enough, it was a message from Julian.

"Darling, are you home?"

"I have a meeting in the Hamptons next week. You've been wanting to stay at the beach house, right? How about I take you there to relax?"