Chapter 2
1110words
In the early hours, I slipped my key into the lock. The living room lay in darkness, with only a thin line of light seeping from beneath my mother's door.
I rushed over and pushed it open. "Mom!"
Emma sat at her dressing table in a silk nightgown, clearly battling insomnia. She startled at my intrusion, turning to see my tear-streaked face. She rose immediately. "Ava? What's wrong? What happened?"
My lips trembled, but no words came. I collapsed into her arms, breaking down again as all the shock, disgust, and humiliation poured out of me.
She held me tight, stroking my back until my sobs quieted. Then she guided me to the edge of the bed and asked softly, "Alright, sweetheart. Tell me what happened."
I looked up, my voice raw and strange even to my own ears, and told her everything. The partially open door. The rumpled sheets. Nina's shameless cries and Father's face twisted with pleasure.
I expected shock. Anger. The same loss of control I'd experienced.
Instead, she met my story with suffocating silence. Her already pale face drained completely, her hands trembling uncontrollably on her knees. In her carefully maintained eyes, something shattered piece by piece.
After what felt like forever, she stood and walked to her wardrobe. From its deepest corner, she pulled out a small safe. Her fingers trembled as she punched in the code, and the door clicked open.
What she removed wasn't jewelry but a thick stack of papers.
Hotel bills. Credit card statements. Years of them.
Emma tossed them onto the bed, her voice hollow and broken. "I knew he had women on the side... I knew. But God, I never thought it would be Nina."
I stared at the evidence, my heart squeezed by an invisible fist. All this time, Mother had been wading through this swamp of lies, fighting only to maintain our family's facade of normalcy.
"You've known all along?" Disbelief choked my words.
"Men his age always stray," she said with a bitter smile, tears finally breaking free. "I thought as long as it didn't affect the family—didn't affect you kids—I could endure it. But his own son's wife? I never imagined he'd sink that low."
I grabbed her arm urgently. "Mom, we have to tell Alex! We can't keep him in the dark while those two make a fool of him!"
Emma stiffened. She closed her eyes in pain, shaking her head. "No... we can't. Alex loves Nina so much. The truth would destroy him."
Her voice carried the primal fear of a mother protecting her child—an instinct that, in this moment, even outweighed her rage at her husband's betrayal.
"Better devastated than played for a fool!" I cried. "Should we let him live a lie? Raise another man's child?"
At the mention of a child, Emma's expression darkened further. "Two years ago, Alex met Nina at the company party. Said she was a new hire in your father's division."
"But something always felt off," Emma's gaze sharpened. "She always 'happened' to be wherever Alex was—family dinners, his favorite coffee shop, his gym. Too many coincidences."
I frowned. "Are you saying Nina targeted Alex from the start?"
"Too many coincidences," Emma said, doubt clouding her voice. "But maybe I'm seeing ghosts where there are none."
Just as I opened my mouth to press further, a knock sounded at the bedroom door. "Mom? Ava? You in there?" Alex's cheerful voice called.
Emma and I locked eyes, mutual panic flashing between us. She quickly wiped her tears, plastered on a smile, and opened the door.
Alex burst in and wrapped us both in a bear hug. He was practically glowing, happiness radiating from him in waves, completely blind to the tension hanging in the air.
"Both still up? Perfect! I've got amazing news!" he announced, eyes bright as stars.
He pulled an exquisite velvet box from his pocket, waving it before us. "Mom, you're going to be a grandmother! Nina wasn't feeling well today, so I took her to the doctor. They said she might be pregnant! I'm proposing tomorrow, then we'll have an even bigger wedding!"
Something exploded in my brain with a deafening crack.
I stared at my brother's face—so full of joy, so full of hope—and flashed back to the scene from hours ago. My throat closed up like it was filled with cement. I couldn't speak, could barely breathe through the waves of nausea.
"Really? That's... wonderful." Emma's voice sounded miles away, her smile as brittle as thin ice.
Alex, drowning in his own happiness, noticed nothing amiss. He rambled about his plans before finally heading out. "Gotta get some sleep! Tomorrow I'm giving Nina the surprise of her life!"
The moment he left, the room plunged back into deathly silence.
I couldn't take it anymore. I turned to rush after him—I couldn't let my brother live this lie another second!
"Stop!" Emma grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.
"Ava, wait..." She turned to me, fresh tears streaming down her face. "Please... give me time. I need to figure out how to tell him with the least damage..."
I stared at her, disappointment crushing my chest. This woman I'd always leaned on was choosing avoidance when it mattered most. Not how to expose the truth, but how to "minimize the hurt."
I yanked my hand free and stormed out without another word, slamming my bedroom door behind me.
I threw myself onto my bed, more alone than I'd ever felt. In this house of masks, I was the intruder who'd glimpsed the rot beneath—yet powerless to do anything about it.
As despair and rage consumed me, my phone screen suddenly lit up.
A text from an unknown number.
I opened it to find a single line: "A smart girl knows some secrets are best kept buried."
The sender, without question, was Nina.
This wasn't a hint. It was a blatant threat.
I stared at those words, fury burning away my last shred of hesitation. Slowly, I sat up and wiped my tears, my resolve hardening like steel.
Mom wouldn't speak up, too afraid of shattering my brother's happiness, too concerned with preserving the family's precious dignity.
But I would.
If she thought threats would silence me, she was dead wrong. I'd rip away this facade with my bare hands and show everyone exactly what festered behind the glittering Victor name.
