Chapter 4 - MY HUSBAND’S SECOND LIFEThe next morning, Emily Park did not come to work.
I asked the charge nurse where she was.
“Administrative leave.”
Of course.
The person who nearly died remained in bed.
The person who told her the truth was punished.
Noah made three phone calls before breakfast.
By nine, he had contacted an independent medical malpractice attorney named Rachel Kim and arranged for a forensic medical-record specialist to preserve whatever data we legally could obtain.
Luca discovered this by ten.
He stormed into my room and closed the door.
“You hired an attorney?”
“I hired someone who answers my questions.”
“You are destroying my hospital over something you don’t understand.”
“Your hospital?”
“My career. Hundreds of employees. Patients who depend on us.”
I stared at him.
“You’re worried about your career?”
“I’m worried about consequences.”
“So am I.”
His voice softened.
“Jessi, please.”
That frightened me more than anger.
Luca rarely pleaded.
He sat beside the bed.
“For seven years, I’ve loved you.”
“Then tell me why Mariana was admitted as Mariana Vance.”
His face changed.
There it was again.
Fear.
“Where did you see that?”
“Answer me.”
“It was an administrative alias.”
“Using your surname?”
“For privacy.”
“Whose privacy?”
He stood.
“You’re looking for betrayal because you’re hurt.”
“No. I’m looking for facts because you’re lying.”
He walked toward the window.
For several seconds, he watched ferries crossing the gray water below.
Then he said, “Mariana had a complicated pregnancy.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Pregnancy.
I heard the word but could not make sense of it.
“Pregnancy?”
“She suffered complications.”
“Was she pregnant when she entered the hospital?”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
My mouth went dry.
“Whose baby?”
He turned around.
“That is none of your concern.”
I laughed.
The sound came out broken.
“Your former girlfriend entered the hospital secretly using your surname for pregnancy-related surgery, and you think the father is none of my concern?”
“She lost the pregnancy.”
The anger drained from me for one second.
Whatever Mariana had done, that loss was real.
“I’m sorry she lost her baby.”
Luca nodded.
Then I finished.
“But you still haven’t answered me.”
He looked away.
“Were you the father?”
Silence.
My heart monitor began beeping faster.
“Luca.”
“It’s complicated.”
Seven years of marriage ended inside those two words.
Not legally.
Not yet.
But something sacred inside me finally understood there was nothing left to save.
“How long?”
“Jessi—”
“How long were you sleeping with her?”
He said nothing.
I grabbed the wedding ring from the table and threw it.
It struck his chest and fell onto the floor.
He stared down at it.
“I want you out of my house.”
“Our house.”
“My name is on the deed too.”
His expression hardened.
“I would be very careful about making decisions while you’re emotionally unstable.”
That sentence extinguished whatever grief remained.
I picked up my phone.
“You mean decisions like recording this conversation?”
His eyes snapped toward the device.
I held it up.
The red timer was running.
For the first time, Dr. Luca Vance had nothing to say.
Then the door opened.
Noah entered with Rachel Kim.
Rachel was a compact Korean American woman in her early forties wearing a charcoal suit and carrying a leather briefcase.
“Dr. Vance,” she said, “I believe visiting hours are over.”
Luca stared at her.
Then at me.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Rachel stepped between us.
“She knows exactly what she’s doing.”
Luca left.
Rachel waited until the door closed.
Then she placed a folder on my bed.
“We found something.”
Inside were corporate filings.
Property transactions.
Hospital foundation records.
And a trust.
The Vance Medical Legacy Trust.
Luca had transferred millions into it during our marriage.
One listed contingent beneficiary had been added eight months earlier.
M.C.
Mariana Cole.
My hands began shaking.
Then Rachel turned one final page.
“There’s more.”
The trust contained a provision concerning any biological child of Luca Vance.
I looked at her.
“You think the baby was his.”
Rachel’s answer was careful.
“I think your husband had financial documents prepared for that possibility.”
Noah cursed under his breath.
But Rachel wasn’t finished.
“Jessi, there’s something else about your accident.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
“The SUV that hit you was registered to a company.”
“What company?”
She turned the page toward me.
Vance Harbor Holdings LLC.
The same company that had sold Mariana her condominium.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
May you like
Then I whispered the only question that mattered.
“What if my accident wasn’t an accident?”
Related Stories
