For almost a year after Cancun, I believed the worst was over.
\nDaniel was gone.
\nMelissa was gone.
\nThe fraudulent accounts had been closed, my credit repaired, and my house finally felt like mine again.
\nI had even stopped checking the security cameras every time my phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, an envelope arrived with no return address.
\nMy name was handwritten across the front.
\nNot printed.
\nNot typed.
\nHandwritten.
\nI almost threw it away.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Something stopped me.
\nInside was a single photograph.
\nDaniel.
\nStanding beside a woman I had never seen before.
\nThe picture looked old, maybe eight or nine years old.
\nThey were outside a small white house, smiling at the camera.
\nDaniel had one arm around her shoulders.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The other was holding the hand of a little boy.
\nI stared at the child.
\nSame dark hair as Daniel.
\nSame crooked smile.
\nSame deep dimple in the left cheek.
\nMy stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Behind the photograph was a note.
\nYou deserve to know the rest.
\nCall me before he gets out.
\nBelow it was a phone number.
\nI read the sentence three times.
\nBefore he gets out.
\nDaniel\u2019s release date was still months away.
\nOnly a handful of people knew that.
\nI called the number.
\nA woman answered on the second ring.
\n\u201cClaire?\u201d
\nHer voice was shaky.
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cMy name is Rebecca.\u201d
\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d
\nSilence.
\nThen she said something that made me grip the kitchen counter.
\n\u201cI was with Daniel before you knew he was cheating.\u201d
\nI closed my eyes.
\n\u201cHow long before?\u201d
\n\u201cYears.\u201d
\nThe word landed harder than I expected.
\nI had survived the affair with Melissa because I believed it had been a terrible ending to an otherwise real marriage.
\nNow Rebecca was telling me the ending had started long before I knew there was a problem.
\n\u201cHow many years?\u201d
\n\u201cEleven.\u201d
\nI stopped breathing.
\nRebecca continued before I could respond.
\n\u201cI\u2019m not calling to hurt you. I swear. I thought about contacting you many times, but Daniel always said you knew about me.\u201d
\n\u201cHe said what?\u201d
\n\u201cHe told me your marriage was basically over. That you stayed together for financial reasons.\u201d
\nA bitter laugh escaped me.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s interesting.\u201d
\n\u201cI know.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd the boy in the picture?\u201d
\nAnother silence.
\nLonger this time.
\n\u201cHis name is Ethan.\u201d
\nI already knew what she was about to say.
\nStill, hearing it felt different.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s Daniel\u2019s son.\u201d
\nI sat down.
\nDaniel and I never had children.
\nWe tried for years.
\nDoctors.
\nTests.
\nTreatments.
\nHope followed by disappointment.
\nDaniel had once held me after another failed procedure and whispered, \u201cMaybe it\u2019s just supposed to be us.\u201d
\nAll those years, he had a son.
\n\u201cHow old is Ethan?\u201d
\n\u201cFourteen.\u201d
\nFourteen.
\nMy marriage had lasted sixteen years.
\nI felt something inside me go completely still.
\n\u201cDid Daniel support him?\u201d
\nRebecca laughed softly, without humor.
\n\u201cSometimes.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d
\n\u201cIt means he gave money when he wanted something from me.\u201d
\nI stared at the photograph again.
\nThe smiling family.
\nThe man I thought I knew.
\nThe life I never knew existed.
\n\u201cWhy contact me now?\u201d
\nRebecca inhaled slowly.
\n\u201cBecause Daniel called me three days ago.\u201d
\nI stood immediately.
\n\u201cHow?\u201d
\n\u201cPrison phone.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat did he want?\u201d
\n\u201cHe asked about Ethan. Then he asked if I still had a storage unit.\u201d
\nMy skin prickled.
\n\u201cWhat storage unit?\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s why I called you.\u201d
\nRebecca explained that years earlier, Daniel had rented a small storage unit under her name.
\nHe told her it contained business records.
\nWhen their relationship ended, he stopped paying for it.
\nRebecca had paid the fees herself because she was afraid of losing whatever was inside.
\nShe had never opened the boxes.
\nUntil Daniel called from prison.
\n\u201cHe told me not to touch anything,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cHe specifically said that?\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cThen we\u2019re opening it.\u201d
\nRebecca hesitated.
\n\u201cClaire\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cIf Daniel is afraid of what\u2019s inside, I need to know.\u201d
\nThe storage facility was two hours away.
\nI drove there the following morning.
\nRebecca was already waiting.
\nShe looked nothing like Melissa.
\nShe wore jeans, a gray sweater, and no makeup.
\nHer hands trembled when we introduced ourselves.
\nFor several seconds, we just stared at each other.
\nTwo women connected by the same man.
\nDifferent lies.
\nSame damage.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cFor what?\u201d
\n\u201cFor believing him.\u201d
\nI shook my head.
\n\u201cThat makes two of us.\u201d
\nWe walked inside together.
\nUnit 214 was at the end of a long concrete hallway.
\nRebecca unlocked the metal door.
\nIt rolled upward with a violent rattle.
\nDust floated through the fluorescent light.
\nThere were seven cardboard boxes.
\nA filing cabinet.
\nA locked suitcase.
\nAnd an old laptop.
\nMy heart started pounding.
\nWe opened the first box.
\nTax records.
\nReceipts.
\nOld contracts.
\nNothing unusual.
\nThe second box contained photographs.
\nDozens of them.
\nDaniel with Rebecca.
\nDaniel with Ethan.
\nFamily vacations.
\nBirthday parties.
\nChristmas mornings.
\nYears of another life.
\nThen I found a photograph of Daniel standing beside Melissa.
\nDated nine years earlier.
\nNine years.
\nMelissa hadn\u2019t become involved with my husband recently.
\nThey had known exactly what they were doing for nearly a decade.
\nRebecca looked at me.
\n\u201cYou know her?\u201d
\n\u201cMy best friend.\u201d
\nHer expression changed.
\n\u201cOh my God.\u201d
\nI kept digging.
\nUnder the photographs was a yellow envelope.
\nMy name was written across it.
\nClaire.
\nI opened it.
\nInside were photocopies of insurance documents.
\nA policy in my name.
\nTwo million dollars.
\nDaniel listed as beneficiary.
\nI recognized the policy.
\nBut the signature at the bottom wasn\u2019t mine.
\nRebecca whispered, \u201cClaire\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cI never signed this.\u201d
\nMy hands began shaking.
\nThen I noticed the date.
\nThe policy had been created seven months before Daniel ran away with Melissa.
\nSeven months before Cancun.
\nSeven months before everything exploded.
\nSuddenly, a question entered my mind that I didn\u2019t want to ask.
\nWhy would Daniel secretly insure my life for two million dollars just months before planning to disappear?
\nRebecca was staring at the paperwork.
\n\u201cYou need to call the police.\u201d
\n\u201cI will.\u201d
\nBut first, I opened the filing cabinet.
\nThe top drawer was locked.
\nRebecca found a small key taped beneath the desk.
\nInside were folders labeled with initials.
\nMine.
\nMelissa\u2019s.
\nRebecca\u2019s.
\nAnd several names neither of us recognized.
\nEach folder contained financial records.
\nCopies of identification.
\nBank statements.
\nSignatures.
\nDaniel had been collecting information on women for years.
\nThis wasn\u2019t a midlife crisis.
\nIt wasn\u2019t one desperate plan.
\nIt was a system.
\nThen Rebecca pulled a small black notebook from the back of the drawer.
\nPages of dates.
\nAccount numbers.
\nDollar amounts.
\nNames.
\nSome crossed out.
\nOthers circled.
\nOn the final page was a list of four women.
\nRebecca.
\nMelissa.
\nSomeone named Lauren.
\nAnd me.
\nBeside each name was a dollar amount.
\nRebecca: $80,000.
\nMelissa: $145,000.
\nLauren: $310,000.
\nClaire: $2,000,000.
\nRebecca covered her mouth.
\n\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d
\nI already knew.
\nOr at least I feared I did.
\nBefore I could answer, my phone rang.
\nUnknown number.
\nI almost ignored it.
\nThen something made me pick up.
\n\u201cHello?\u201d
\nA mechanical voice spoke first.
\n\u201cThis is a prepaid call from\u2014\u201d
\nThen Daniel\u2019s voice.
\n\u201cClaire.\u201d
\nMy blood turned cold.
\nI looked at Rebecca.
\nShe heard it too.
\nDaniel continued.
\n\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be there.\u201d
\nEvery hair on my arms rose.
\nHe knew.
\n\u201cHow do you know where I am?\u201d
\nHe ignored the question.
\n\u201cLeave the storage unit.\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\n\u201cClaire.\u201d
\nFor the first time since Cancun, I heard something in his voice I had never heard before.
\nFear.
\n\u201cWhatever you found,\u201d he said quietly, \u201cyou don\u2019t understand it.\u201d
\n\u201cYou used that sentence before.\u201d
\n\u201cThis is different.\u201d
\nI picked up the insurance policy.
\n\u201cTwo million dollars, Daniel?\u201d
\nSilence.
\nThen his voice became almost a whisper.
\n\u201cYou need to walk away.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause there are things in that unit that don\u2019t belong to me.\u201d
\nRebecca and I looked at each other.
\n\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d
\nDaniel exhaled sharply.
\n\u201cClaire, listen carefully.\u201d
\nI waited.
\nThen he said the sentence that changed everything.
\n\u201cMelissa wasn\u2019t the person you should have been afraid of.\u201d
\nThe call disconnected.
\nI stood frozen.
\nRebecca stared at me.
\n\u201cWhat did he mean?\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d
\nThen we heard something outside the storage unit.
\nFootsteps.
\nSlow.
\nHeavy.
\nComing closer.
\nRebecca whispered, \u201cIs someone else supposed to be here?\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d
\nThe footsteps stopped directly outside.
\nA shadow appeared beneath the metal door.
\nSomeone was standing on the other side.
\nAnd then the handle began to move\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n