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Chapter Ten : The Cracks Deepen
publish date:
2026-10-01 18:30:32
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UNMARRIED Chapter Ten : The Cracks Deepen
She woke before the alarm.She lay still, listening to Julian breathe. Slow. Steady. Content. He had no idea. No idea that the woman beside him was no longer his fool. No idea that she was building a case against him. No idea that everything was about to change.She slipped out of bed.She made breakfast. She smiled at Ethan. She kissed Julian goodbye. She dropped Ethan at school. She watched him run through the gates. She waved back when he turned to wave.Then she sat in the car.The smile faded. The mask slipped.She called Priya.---Priya answered on the first ring."Elle. I found something.""What?""About Victoria. I did some digging. You're not going to believe this.""Tell me.""Not over the phone. Come to my place. Now."Eleanor started the car.---Priya was waiting at the door.She pulled Eleanor inside. There were papers spread across the coffee table. Printouts. Screenshots. Notes."I started looking into Victoria after you told me about her," Priya said. "I couldn't hel
UNMARRIED Chapter Nine :The Morning After
She held up the photo.Victoria's face went pale. Julian took a step back. Neither of them spoke. The silence stretched. Eleanor let it. She let them squirm. She let them wonder. She let them fear.Then she smiled."I found this in a box of old things," she said. "I was going to ask you about it, Julian, but I forgot. Who is this?" She looked at Victoria. "Is this you?"Victoria hesitated. Her eyes darted to Julian. Then back to Eleanor. Then back to Julian."Oh," she said. "That old thing."She laughed. A nervous laugh. A relieved laugh. A laugh that said she thought she'd been caught but wasn't."Yes, that's me. Years ago. A friend's baby. I'd almost forgotten."Eleanor nodded. "It's a lovely photo."She tucked it back into her pocket."I'll put it back where I found it."Julian was staring at her. His eyes were searching. He was trying to figure out if she knew. If she suspected. If she was playing a game.She smiled at him.The mask was firmly in place."Everything okay?" she aske
UNMARRIED Chapter Eight:The Woman in the living room
Eleanor stood in the doorway.Her hand was still on the frame. Her breath was caught somewhere between her chest and her throat. Her heart was pounding so loud she was certain they could hear it.Victoria was sitting on the couch. On her couch. In her house. Smiling."Hello, Eleanor. It's been a while."Eleanor didn't move. She couldn't move. She just stood there, staring at the woman who had been sleeping with her husband for five years. The woman who had given birth to the child she had raised. The woman who had orchestrated the entire deception. The woman who had sent her a text just hours ago: Stay away from my son."Victoria," she said. Her voice was steady. She didn't know how. "What a surprise."Julian stood up. He looked nervous. On edge. He kept glancing between them, like he was waiting for something to explode."Victoria was in the neighborhood," he said. "She wanted to say hello."Eleanor looked at him.In the neighborhood.She wanted to say hello.She wanted to laugh. She
UNMARRIED Chapter Seven :The Photo
She didn't know what to say.She knelt there, holding Ethan, the photo of Victoria and the newborn baby clutched in his small hand, and her mind went blank. Every lie she'd ever told. Every mask she'd ever worn. Every performance she'd perfected over six years. All of it vanished. She was just a woman. A woman holding a child who wasn't hers. A child who was looking at her with confused, trusting eyes."Mama?" Ethan's voice was small. "Who is she?"Eleanor's throat closed. She couldn't tell him the truth. Not now. Not like this. Not when he was eight years old and holding a photo of the woman who gave birth to him, the woman who abandoned him, the woman who let Eleanor raise him for eight years.She couldn't break him.So she did what she'd been doing for six years.She lied."She's an old friend of Daddy's," she said, her voice steadier than she felt. "From before you were born."Ethan frowned. "But she's holding a baby. Is that me?"Eleanor's heart stopped.She looked at the photo a
UNMARRIED Chapter Six:The Truth About Everything
She didn't sleep that night.She lay in bed beside Julian, staring at the ceiling, her grandmother's words echoing in her mind. You are worth more than they told you. She didn't know what that meant yet. She didn't know what Daniel would tell her. But for the first time in days, she felt something other than pain.She felt anticipation.The morning came slowly. She made breakfast. She smiled at Ethan. She kissed Julian goodbye. She dropped Ethan at school. She watched him run through the gates.Then she drove to Daniel Hartley's office.---Daniel was waiting for her.He stood when she entered. Gestured to the chair across from his desk. She sat. He sat. He folded his hands. He looked at her with kind eyes and a steady gaze."Before we begin," he said, "I need you to understand something. What I'm about to tell you is going to change your life. Not just your circumstances. Your life. Are you ready for that?"Eleanor met his eyes. "I've been ready since the moment I walked out of that
UNMARRIED Chapter Five :The Silence
She didn't confront him that night.She wanted to. God, she wanted to. She sat on the kitchen floor, her back against the cabinets, her hands over her mouth, her tears falling silently, and every part of her screamed to wake him. To drag him out of bed. To make him look her in the eye and explain how he could do this to her.She didn't move.She couldn't.Because if she confronted him, she would have to face the truth. All of it. The forged certificate. Victoria. Five years. Ethan. The barren lie. The surgery that never happened. Everything she had built her life on would collapse in a single moment, and she wasn't ready to stand in the rubble.Not yet.So she sat on the kitchen floor until her legs went numb. Until her tears dried. Until the cold from the tiles seeped into her bones and settled there like a second skin.Then she stood.She walked back to the bedroom. Julian was still asleep. His breath was slow. Steady. Content. He had no idea. No idea that she knew. No idea that the
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