Chapter 2 - The Ghost of Vanessa
The private club was heavily guarded and dripping with the kind of wealth that usually came from dirty hands.
I wore a black silk dress that felt far more like a heavy suit of armor than elegant evening wear.
Luke stood silently beside me, radiating cold authority as powerful men lined up just to shake his hand.
He barely spoke a single word to me the entire evening.
Then Vanessa Russell walked confidently into the crowded room.
She was Luke’s childhood friend and his very first love.
Half of Chicago’s elite inner circle had once expected him to marry her before I unexpectedly entered the picture.
Luke stood up the exact instant she approached our private table.
That simple gesture alone told me more than I ever wanted to know about their relationship.
For the next hour, they talked warmly about childhood summers, old restaurants, and mutual friends.
They shared a lifetime of rich memories I had never been a part of.
He poured her expensive wine with a surprisingly gentle touch.
He moved a small plate of appetizers closer when she couldn’t quite reach it across the table.
He even dismissed an aggressive, drunk politician who approached her with just one lethal, silent look.
They were tiny, seemingly meaningless gestures to anyone else watching them.
But they broke my heart because he had almost never made those kinds of efforts for me.
I excused myself to the restroom, desperate for a quiet moment to just breathe.
On my way back down the dim hallway, I heard two older women whispering near the heavy velvet curtains.
One asked if I was really Luke Morgan’s wife.
The other confirmed it with a sharp, highly mocking tone.
They noted that the beautiful Vanessa was finally back in town.
After a brief pause, they both started laughing cruelly.
One of them loudly declared that I didn't stand a chance because I was a complete nobody.
I expected those cruel words to hurt me deeply.
Instead, standing alone in the shadows of that opulent hallway, I felt strangely free.
The spell was finally, permanently broken.
I walked back to the table, completely invisible to the man I had loved for three years.
I politely told Luke I had a terrible headache and was going to take a separate car home.
He didn't even look away from Vanessa as he casually nodded.
I walked out the heavy front doors and got into a waiting town car.
My phone buzzed with a text message as the driver pulled into the busy street.
It was from an unknown, untraceable number.
May you like
The message said that Vanessa wasn't just back in town for a quick visit.
She was moving into the private guest house on our estate tomorrow morning.
