Nothing about it stood out.<\/p>\n
No busy crowds.<\/p>\n
No obvious reason to choose it.<\/p>\n
Maybe that was the point.<\/p>\n
I stayed only long enough to memorize the entrance before driving away.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
When I arrived home, Felix\u2019s car wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n
His text had been truthful for once.<\/p>\n
He really wasn\u2019t home.<\/p>\n
I unlocked the front door and stepped inside.<\/p>\n
The house was silent.<\/p>\n
Too silent.<\/p>\n
I walked upstairs toward our bedroom.<\/p>\n
Halfway down the hallway, something caught my attention.<\/p>\n
The closet door was open.<\/p>\n
I always closed it.<\/p>\n
Inside, Felix\u2019s largest suitcase sat on the floor.<\/p>\n
He had supposedly taken it on his business trip.<\/p>\n
Yet here it was.<\/p>\n
I slowly unzipped it.<\/p>\n
Inside were neatly folded clothes.<\/p>\n
Exactly as they had been before his \u201cconference.\u201d<\/p>\n
No wrinkles.<\/p>\n
No hotel toiletries.<\/p>\n
No laundry.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
It had never left the house.<\/p>\n
A chill ran through me.<\/p>\n
How many of those eleven business trips had been fake?<\/p>\n
I searched the inside pocket.<\/p>\n
Receipts.<\/p>\n
Business cards.<\/p>\n
A small envelope.<\/p>\n
I opened it carefully.<\/p>\n
Inside was a receipt from a jewelry store.<\/p>\n
Not recent.<\/p>\n
Dated four months earlier.<\/p>\n
One item purchased.<\/p>\n
Diamond necklace.<\/strong><\/p>\n Price:<\/p>\n $4,860.<\/strong><\/p>\n I had never received a diamond necklace.<\/p>\n I checked the payment method.<\/p>\n Joint account.<\/p>\n He had bought another woman a gift using our money.<\/p>\n I photographed the receipt and returned everything exactly as I found it.<\/p>\n No mistakes.<\/p>\n No missing papers.<\/p>\n No signs anyone had touched the suitcase.<\/p>\n Just as I finished zipping it closed, I heard the front door downstairs.<\/p>\n Felix.<\/p>\n His voice floated through the hallway.<\/p>\n \u201cNora?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m upstairs,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n His footsteps came closer.<\/p>\n I quickly sat on the edge of the bed, pretending to scroll through my phone.<\/p>\n He entered smiling, carrying a white bakery box.<\/p>\n \u201cMom insisted I bring you more cake.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was nice of her.\u201d<\/p>\n He leaned down and kissed my forehead.<\/p>\n I almost flinched.<\/p>\n \u201cFeeling better?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMuch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad.\u201d<\/p>\n His eyes drifted toward the closet for a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n Just one glance.<\/p>\n So quick that most people would never notice.<\/p>\n But I noticed.<\/p>\n Was he checking whether I had opened it?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got another conference next week,\u201d he said casually while hanging his jacket.<\/p>\n \u201cThree days this time.\u201d<\/p>\n I smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich city?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPhiladelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n The lie came so easily.<\/p>\n I nodded as if I believed him.<\/p>\n After dinner, Felix fell asleep on the couch while watching television.<\/p>\n Around nine o\u2019clock, his phone buzzed.<\/p>\n Once.<\/p>\n Twice.<\/p>\n Three times.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t wake up.<\/p>\n The screen lit up just enough for me to read the preview.<\/p>\n E:<\/strong>\u00a0She asked if I wanted chocolate ice cream again.\u00a0 A second message appeared.<\/p>\n E:<\/strong>\u00a0She\u2019s kicking so much tonight. I wish you were here.<\/em><\/p>\n I looked at Felix.<\/p>\n Still asleep.<\/p>\n Then back at the phone.<\/p>\n Before I could decide what to do, another notification appeared.<\/p>\n This one wasn\u2019t from \u201cE.\u201d<\/p>\n It simply read:<\/p>\n Unknown Number<\/strong><\/p>\n She was at the garage today.<\/em><\/p>\n Every drop of blood drained from my face.<\/p>\n A second message arrived almost instantly.<\/p>\n Tell your wife to stop asking questions\u2026 before someone gets hurt.<\/em><\/p>\n I stared at the message until the screen went dark.<\/p>\n She was at the garage today.<\/em><\/p>\n Tell your wife to stop asking questions\u2026 before someone gets hurt.<\/em><\/p>\n My hands began to shake.<\/p>\n Someone had seen me.<\/p>\n Not just the security camera.<\/p>\n A real person.<\/p>\n Someone who knew I was Felix\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n Someone who had already reported me.<\/p>\n I looked at Felix.<\/p>\n He was still asleep on the couch, one arm hanging over the side, breathing slowly as if nothing in the world could disturb him.<\/p>\n His phone buzzed again.<\/p>\n This time he woke.<\/p>\n He rubbed his eyes, picked up the phone, and read the messages.<\/p>\n For the briefest moment, I saw something I hadn\u2019t seen on his face in years.<\/p>\n Fear.<\/p>\n He glanced toward me.<\/p>\n I smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n He locked the screen almost instantly.<\/p>\n \u201cJust work.\u201d<\/p>\n I nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve been getting a lot of work messages lately.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cApparently they can\u2019t survive without me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI guess not.\u201d<\/p>\n He stood and slipped the phone into his pocket.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to take a shower.\u201d<\/p>\n As soon as the bathroom door closed, I opened my notebook.<\/p>\n I wrote exactly what I had seen.<\/p>\n Unknown Number.<\/p>\n She was at the garage today.<\/p>\n Tell your wife to stop asking questions.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t know who had sent it.<\/p>\n But I knew one thing.<\/p>\n Felix hadn\u2019t looked surprised.<\/p>\n He had looked worried.<\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n The next afternoon, I arrived at Hawthorne Books fifteen minutes early.<\/p>\n The bookstore smelled of old paper and fresh coffee.<\/p>\n Only three customers wandered through the shelves.<\/p>\n A gray-haired man sat reading near the window.<\/p>\n A young mother browsed children\u2019s books with her son.<\/p>\n In the back corner, a woman wearing a navy-blue coat closed a hardcover novel and looked directly at me.<\/p>\n \u201cNora?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCaroline?\u201d<\/p>\n She smiled politely.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for coming.\u201d<\/p>\n She led me upstairs to a tiny reading room with two armchairs and a kettle sitting on a side table.<\/p>\n It looked more like someone\u2019s living room than a bookstore.<\/p>\n \u201cNo cameras,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cNo music.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo one listening.\u201d<\/p>\n She waited until I sat down.<\/p>\n Then she slid a thick manila folder across the table.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this belongs to you now.\u201d<\/p>\n I hesitated.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEverything I found before someone tried to stop my investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n I opened the folder.<\/p>\n The first page was a photograph.<\/p>\n Felix.<\/p>\n Standing outside the same gray apartment building I had seen yesterday.<\/p>\n The date printed beneath the picture was eight months earlier.<\/p>\n Eight months.<\/p>\n Not five.<\/p>\n I turned the page.<\/p>\n Another photograph.<\/p>\n Felix carrying grocery bags into the building.<\/p>\n Another date.<\/p>\n Seven months earlier.<\/p>\n Then another.<\/p>\n He was assembling a crib.<\/p>\n Another.<\/p>\n Painting a nursery.<\/p>\n Another.<\/p>\n Holding ultrasound pictures.<\/p>\n My vision blurred.<\/p>\n \u201cThis can\u2019t be real.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m afraid it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline\u2019s voice remained steady.<\/p>\n \u201cI verified every photograph before including it.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked through more pages.<\/p>\n Restaurant receipts.<\/p>\n Hotel invoices.<\/p>\n Copies of parking records.<\/p>\n There was even a utility bill.<\/p>\n The account holder\u2019s name had been blacked out.<\/p>\n Only the address remained.<\/p>\n The same apartment.<\/p>\n The same building.<\/p>\n The same place Felix had claimed was hundreds of miles from his conference.<\/p>\n I swallowed hard.<\/p>\n \u201cHow long has this been going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLonger than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline folded her hands.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe Elise is your husband\u2019s girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked up.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think she\u2019s been living with him.\u201d<\/p>\n The room became perfectly silent.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe lives with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline slowly pushed another document toward me.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to neighbors, your husband spends three or four nights a week at that apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey know him by another name.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart skipped.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat name?\u201d<\/p>\n She turned over the paper.<\/p>\n Printed in black ink were two words.<\/p>\n Felix Hartmann.<\/strong><\/p>\n Not Blake.<\/p>\n Hartmann.<\/p>\n Elise\u2019s surname.<\/p>\n \u201cHe introduced himself as her husband.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt every sound disappear.<\/p>\n Even my own breathing.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2026 what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe neighbors believe they\u2019ve been married for years.\u201d<\/p>\n I shook my head over and over.<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I can hear more.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline reached into the folder again.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the reason I started looking for Elise.\u201d<\/p>\n She placed a sealed envelope in front of me.<\/p>\n Across the front, written in neat blue handwriting, were four words.<\/p>\n If anything happens\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n There was a pause.<\/p>\n Then I finished reading the sentence.<\/p>\n \u2026give this to Nora.<\/strong><\/p>\n I stared at the envelope.<\/p>\n My own name.<\/p>\n Written by someone I had never met.<\/p>\n Or thought I had never met.<\/p>\n Caroline looked at me carefully.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t opened it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause it wasn\u2019t addressed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n My fingers trembled as I reached for the envelope.<\/p>\n Just before I broke the seal\u2026<\/p>\n Someone knocked on the reading room door.<\/p>\n Three slow knocks.<\/p>\n Caroline\u2019s face immediately lost its color.<\/p>\n She whispered only two words.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t answer.\u201d<\/p>\n PART 4 \u2013 SOMEONE WAS WATCHING ME BEFORE I KNEW I WAS WATCHING THEM The blinking red light above the security camera refused to let me look away. It had … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4181,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168\/revisions\/4181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\ud83d\ude0a\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/svg\/1f60a.svg\")
<\/em><\/p>\nPART 5 \u2013 SOMEONE KNEW I HAD BEEN FOLLOWING THEM<\/h1>\n
Click Here to continuous Read\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b Full Ending Story\ud83d\udc49\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Part3:My husband thought I couldn\u2019t understand German, so he announced in front of his entire family\u2026..\u00a0<\/a><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"