Chapter 3 - The Divorce That Was Built on a Lie|
I had spent five years believing my marriage ended because Adrien Moretti chose his family empire over me.
Now he stood in a children's hospital corridor telling me that the divorce papers I signed might have been part of a deception.
I didn't know whether to feel relieved or furious.
Maybe both.
"Explain," I said.
Adrien looked down at the document.
"The lawyer listed here, Daniel Whitcomb, was never registered with the state bar under that name."
My heart raced.
"Then who was the man I met?"
"I don't know."
I laughed bitterly.
"Wonderful."
Adrien looked ashamed.
"Clare, I need to examine the entire file."
"You're five years late."
He lowered his eyes.
"I know."
For a moment, I remembered the day everything fell apart.
I was twenty-four.
Newly pregnant, although I didn't know it yet.
Adrien had been away on business for almost three weeks.
His father, Vittorio Moretti, arrived at our home with two attorneys and a folder.
He told me Adrien wanted a divorce.
He said my marriage had become a liability.
That the Moretti family needed a wife who understood the business.
Someone who wouldn't ask questions about midnight calls or security guards.
I remembered sitting at the dining table, staring at the papers.
"Where's Adrien?" I'd asked.
Vittorio smiled coldly.
"My son has more important things to do."
I'd tried calling.
No answer.
Tried again.
Still nothing.
Then Vittorio placed a photograph in front of me.
Adrien leaving a hotel with a beautiful blonde woman.
His hand resting against her back.
"Don't embarrass yourself," Vittorio said.
I signed the agreement that afternoon.
A month later, I discovered I was pregnant.
By then, every attempt to reach Adrien had failed.
His phone number changed.
My emails returned.
Security refused to let me enter his office.
Eventually, I stopped trying.
Not because I didn't love him.
Because I couldn't keep begging someone to acknowledge I existed.
Now Adrien looked at me across the hospital corridor.
"I never changed my number to keep you away."
I stared.
"What?"
"My father told me you blocked me."
I shook my head.
"No."
"He said you wanted no further contact."
I felt dizzy.
"He told me you agreed to the settlement and left the country."
I laughed.
"Left the country?"
Adrien nodded slowly.
"That's what I was told."
I stared at him.
"I moved forty minutes outside Boston."
His expression changed.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then I whispered:
"Adrien, did you ever try to find me?"
He closed his eyes.
"Yes."
My heart tightened.
"How?"
"Through the attorney my father said represented you."
I stared at the document.
The man who didn't exist.
Adrien continued.
"He told me you wanted the divorce finalized and threatened legal action if I contacted you."
Tears filled my eyes.
Five years.
Five years of loneliness.
Five years of working double shifts.
Five years of explaining to my boys that families came in different shapes.
And all that time, Adrien might have believed I wanted nothing to do with him.
But there was still one question.
"Why did you sign the divorce?"
His face tightened.
"Because I thought you wanted to leave."
I stared.
"And you didn't come home to ask me?"
He looked away.
That was the answer.
Even if Vittorio had manipulated us, Adrien had still chosen to believe the easiest explanation.
He had trusted his father more than his wife.
Adrien looked at me again.
"You're right to be angry."
I swallowed.
"Yes."
"I should have come home."
"Yes."
"I should have spoken to you directly."
My eyes filled.
"Yes."
His voice broke.
"I'm sorry."
For five years, I'd imagined those words.
Now they arrived in a corridor outside my son's hospital room.
And they didn't fix anything.
I took a breath.
"Adrien, Leo needs me."
He nodded immediately.
"Of course."
"And Oliver and Ethan are with my sister."
His expression softened.
"Can I meet them?"
I hesitated.
The question frightened me.
Not because Adrien was dangerous.
Although he was.
But because my boys had never known their father.
I had spent years protecting them from the possibility of being rejected.
Now he wanted to walk into their lives.
And I didn't know whether I could trust him to stay.
"Not today," I said.
His face fell.
But he nodded.
"Okay."
I looked at him.
"You don't get to appear with a black card and become their father overnight."
"I know."
"You have to earn their trust."
"I will."
I swallowed.
"Promises aren't enough."
Adrien looked toward Leo's room.
"No," he whispered. "They aren't."
That evening, I called my sister, Megan.
She answered with chaos in the background.
Oliver was apparently building a blanket fort.
Ethan was explaining why astronauts couldn't take goldfish into space.
I smiled despite everything.
"How are my monsters?"
Megan laughed.
"Your monsters have eaten everything in my refrigerator."
Then her voice softened.
"How's Leo?"
"Resting."
"And you?"
I hesitated.
"Megan, Adrien is here."
Silence.
Then she whispered:
"What?"
"He saw Leo."
"Oh, Clare."
"And he knows about the triplets."
Another silence.
"Are you okay?"
I looked toward the hospital room.
"No."
Megan sighed.
"Do you want me to bring Oliver and Ethan tomorrow?"
I hesitated.
"Maybe after surgery."
"Okay."
Then Megan said something unexpected.
"Clare, there's something you should know."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"Someone came to the house yesterday."
I froze.
"What?"
"A man. Older. Expensive suit."
My heart began pounding.
"Did he give a name?"
"Yes."
Megan hesitated.
"Vittorio Moretti."
My blood ran cold.
Adrien's father.
May you like
The man who destroyed my marriage.
And he had been standing outside the home where my children lived.
