PART 2
Adrian turned white.
Not pale.
Not nervous.
White.
The kind of white people turn when they see a ghost, a police officer, or their wife warmly embracing the woman they have been secretly sleeping with for six months.
“Rachel!” I called brightly. “You made it!”
Every head in the room turned toward her.
Rachel’s confident smile faltered for half a second. Then she recovered and walked toward me, clutching the gold-wrapped gift bag against her body.
“Of course,” she said. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
Adrian nearly choked on his water.
I opened my arms.
Rachel had no choice but to hug me.
Her perfume filled my nose. It was the same sweet, expensive scent I had noticed on Adrian’s jacket three weeks earlier.
Mystery solved.
“You look beautiful,” Rachel whispered.
“So do you,” I replied. “Adrian always did have excellent taste.”
Her body stiffened.
I smiled wider.
Then I took her hand.
“Come on. I saved you a special seat.”
Adrian stepped forward immediately.
“Camila, maybe Rachel should sit with the people from work.”
“Oh, don’t be silly,” I said. “She’s practically family.”
The room became quieter.
Rachel glanced at Adrian.
Adrian stared at me as if he were silently begging me to stop.
Unfortunately for him, I had spent the past two weeks learning how enjoyable it was to ignore his needs.
I guided Rachel across the room and pulled out the empty chair beside my mother-in-law.
“Rachel, this is Teresa, Adrian’s mother.”
Teresa looked Rachel up and down.
Rachel’s face changed.
It was subtle, but I saw it.
Recognition.
Teresa saw it too.
Her hand tightened around her champagne glass.
“We’ve met,” Teresa said quietly.
Adrian closed his eyes.
There it was.
A tiny crack in the floor beneath my feet.
I looked from Rachel to Teresa.
“Really?” I asked. “How wonderful. Where?”
Teresa answered too quickly.
“At the office Christmas party.”
There had been no office Christmas party.
Adrian’s company had canceled it because of a winter storm.
I knew because Adrian had complained for three days about losing his free steak dinner.
Rachel lowered herself into the chair.
“Yes,” she murmured. “The Christmas party.”
I stared at my mother-in-law.
She avoided my eyes.
Interesting.
Apparently, my baby shower had more surprises than I had ordered.
Before I could ask anything else, my mother clapped her hands from the dessert table.
“Everyone! It’s time for the first game!”
People cheered.
I smiled at Teresa.
“We’ll continue this conversation later.”
She took a long drink.
The first game was guessing the size of my stomach with a piece of ribbon.
One aunt guessed thirty-six inches.
Another guessed forty-eight.
My cousin Mariana deliberately cut enough ribbon to wrap around a small automobile.
“Pregnancy is temporary,” she announced. “Revenge photos are forever.”
Everyone laughed except Adrian.
Rachel sat beside Teresa, pretending to examine the decorations. Neither woman spoke.
I watched them both.
For two weeks, I had believed I knew exactly what was happening.
Adrian was cheating.
Rachel was his mistress.
I was the pregnant fool they thought they could manipulate.
But Teresa’s reaction had changed everything.
My mother-in-law knew Rachel.
And not from a Christmas party that had never happened.
The second game was called Who Knows Daddy Best?
My mother had prepared harmless questions about Adrian’s favorite food, favorite movie, childhood nickname, and dream vacation.
I had added three questions of my own.
Everyone received a small card and a pencil.
“Question one,” my mother announced. “What is Adrian’s favorite meal?”
People wrote down their guesses.
“Lasagna,” Teresa said confidently.
“Steak,” one of Adrian’s friends called out.
“Anything he doesn’t have to cook himself,” I said.
Everyone laughed.
Rachel wrote something quickly and covered it with her hand.
“Let’s see the answers,” my mother said.
Most people had written steak or lasagna.
Rachel had written Thai curry from a restaurant near Adrian’s office.
Adrian’s favorite lunch.
The restaurant where their messages said they met every Wednesday.
I pretended not to notice.
“Question two,” my mother continued. “What is Adrian’s dream vacation?”
“The Maldives,” Teresa said.
“Japan,” said one of his coworkers.
Rachel wrote the Hamptons.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
My mother looked confused.
“Adrian, what is the correct answer?”
He cleared his throat.
“I don’t know. Maybe Japan.”
“How strange,” I said. “I thought it was the Hamptons. You seemed to enjoy your last trip there.”
Rachel dropped her pencil.
A few guests exchanged glances.
Mariana sat in the corner drinking sparkling water and watching everything like a lawyer who had purchased front-row tickets to a trial.
My mother moved to the final question.
“What is the biggest secret Adrian has ever kept?”
The laughter faded.
Adrian looked at me.
“Camila,” he said softly.
“Yes, honey?”
“Can I speak to you?”
“We’re playing a game.”
“Now.”
His voice was sharper.
My uncle lowered his cupcake.
My mother frowned.
“Adrian, don’t speak to her like that.”
“I just need a minute with my wife.”
Rachel stared down at her lap.
Teresa whispered something under her breath.
I placed one hand beneath my stomach and stood.
“Our daughter has been listening to secrets for seven months,” I said. “I think she deserves to hear this one.”
Then the lights dimmed.
Adrian turned toward the wall.
A projector screen lowered behind the gift table.
The room fell silent.
The first photograph appeared.
It was an ultrasound image of Lucy.
People sighed and smiled.
The second photograph showed Adrian and me on our wedding day.
The third showed us painting the nursery.
The fourth was a screenshot.
I can’t stand seeing you with her anymore.
Someone gasped.
The next screenshot appeared.
You’re the love of my life, Adrian.
Then another.
I’m going to fix everything soon, my queen.
Then another.
What about the baby?
Don’t worry. I’m going to be with you. I just need time.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The only sound in the room was the soft instrumental music still playing through the speakers.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Teresa whispered, “Oh, God.”
I stepped into the middle of the room.
“For anyone wondering,” I said, “Charles Mechanic is not a mechanic.”
My cousin Mariana pressed the button on the remote.
A photograph of Rachel’s company profile appeared beside the messages.
“Charles Mechanic is Rachel Salcedo,” I continued. “Adrian’s coworker and our honored guest.”
Every face turned toward her.
Rachel stood so quickly that her chair scraped across the floor.
“I can explain.”
“I hope so,” I said. “Because I paid a deposit for this room, and I intend to get my money’s worth.”
Adrian rushed toward me.
“Turn this off.”
He grabbed for the remote.
Mariana stepped between us.
“Touch my cousin while she’s pregnant,” she said calmly, “and I’ll introduce you to several legal procedures you won’t enjoy.”
Adrian stopped.
His face was red now.
“This is insane,” he said. “You went through my phone?”
“That’s your defense?”
“You invaded my privacy!”
“You invaded our marriage.”
A few people murmured in agreement.
Adrian looked around the room, desperate for support.
He found his mother.
“Mom, say something.”
Teresa stood.
For one foolish second, I thought she was going to defend me.
Instead, she looked at Rachel and snapped, “You promised you would stay away until after the baby was born.”
The entire room froze.
I felt the words hit me harder than any of Adrian’s messages.
Rachel’s face drained of color.
Adrian stared at his mother.
“Mom—”
Teresa realized what she had said.
Too late.
I turned toward her slowly.
“You knew?”
“Camila, please.”
“You knew.”
She placed her glass on the table with a trembling hand.
“I didn’t approve.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I told him he was making a mistake.”
“But you knew.”
Teresa looked around the room as if one of the balloon arches might rescue her.
“I was trying to protect the family.”
I laughed.
The sound came out sharper than I expected.
“Which family?”
“Please don’t do this here.”
“Why not? You were comfortable discussing my marriage with my husband’s mistress. You can discuss it with me.”
My mother walked toward Teresa.
“You knew my pregnant daughter was being betrayed?”
Teresa lifted her chin.
“Adrian told me the marriage had been unhappy for years.”
I looked at him.
“Was it?”
He didn’t answer.
“I cooked for you. I worked beside you. I helped pay our bills. I held your hand when your father died. I spent three years going through fertility treatments because you said you wanted a family more than anything.”
My voice cracked.
I placed a hand over my stomach.
“And while I was throwing up every morning carrying the daughter you begged me for, you were telling another woman that I was the problem.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Camila, I never said you were the problem.”
The projector changed to the next message.
Being with Camila feels like living in a hospital waiting room.
A wave of disgust passed through the room.
Adrian looked at the screen.
Mariana raised an eyebrow.
“Technology has terrible timing,” she said.
Rachel started crying.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“No, you’re embarrassed.”
“He told me you were separated.”
The screen changed again.
She still thinks we’re happy. Sometimes I almost feel guilty.
Rachel’s excuse died in her throat.
I walked toward her.
“You knew I believed my marriage was real.”
She wiped her cheeks.
“I loved him.”
“And I was carrying his child.”
“I didn’t ask for this.”
“You walked into my baby shower wearing heels.”
Her lips parted, but nothing came out.
Adrian grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair.
“I’m leaving.”
A woman’s voice came from the entrance.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Lauren Menchaca stood beneath the lavender balloon arch.
She wore a navy suit, black heels, and the expression of a woman who had never lost an argument in her life.
Behind her stood a man from Adrian’s company’s human resources department.
Adrian’s shoulders dropped.
Rachel whispered, “Lauren?”
Lauren entered the room and placed a folder on the nearest table.
“Adrian, Rachel, effective immediately, you are both suspended pending an internal investigation.”
“This is a private event,” Adrian said.
“Your use of company time, company travel, and company resources is not private.”
Rachel looked panicked.
“I never used company money.”
Lauren opened the folder.
“The hotel room in the Hamptons was booked under a client development account.”
Adrian glared at Rachel.
“You told her?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I didn’t.”
“I did,” I said.
Adrian turned toward me.
For the first time that afternoon, he looked afraid.
Not embarrassed.
Not angry.
Afraid.
Lauren continued.
“You will both receive formal instructions by email. Do not access your work accounts or contact any clients until the investigation is complete.”
“You can’t fire me over my marriage,” Adrian said.
Lauren’s expression didn’t change.
“No. But I can fire you for expense fraud.”
The room erupted in whispers.
Adrian looked as if the walls were closing in around him.
Then Mariana stepped forward with a large white envelope.
“And since everyone is exchanging gifts,” she said, “I brought one too.”
She handed it to Adrian.
He stared at it.
“What is this?”
“A petition for legal separation, notice regarding marital assets, and a demand that you preserve all financial records.”
“You prepared divorce papers without speaking to me?”
Mariana smiled.
“She didn’t need your permission.”
Adrian tore open the envelope.
His hands shook as he scanned the first page.
“You’re trying to take my daughter away from me.”
“No,” I said. “Your choices are taking your family away from you.”
He looked at me with hatred.
For a moment, I barely recognized him.
The man standing in front of me was not the man who had cried when we first heard Lucy’s heartbeat.
He was not the man who used to bring me coffee on Sunday mornings.
He was a stranger wearing my husband’s face.
“You planned all of this,” he said.
“Yes.”
“You wanted to humiliate me.”
“I wanted you to experience honesty in a room full of witnesses.”
Teresa grabbed my arm.
“Camila, enough. Stress is bad for the baby.”
I pulled away from her.
“Do not pretend to care about my daughter now.”
“She is my granddaughter.”
“She is not your excuse.”
Teresa’s face crumpled.
My mother stood beside me.
“You should leave,” she told Teresa.
“This is my son’s baby shower.”
“No,” my mother replied. “This is my daughter’s baby shower. Your son merely provided half the DNA and all the entertainment.”
Even Mariana looked impressed.
Adrian shoved the papers back into the envelope.
“You’ll regret this.”
My uncle stood.
“So will you, if you threaten her again.”
Three more relatives rose from their chairs.
Adrian looked around the room.
Nobody was on his side.
Not even Rachel.
He turned and walked toward the exit.
Teresa followed him.
“Adrian, wait!”
At the doorway, he looked back at me.
“I hope you’re happy.”
I rested both hands on my stomach.
“Not yet,” I said. “But I will be.”
He left.
The doors slammed shut behind him.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then my aunt picked up a cupcake.
“Are we still doing presents?”
The room broke into nervous laughter.
I laughed too.
Then I started crying.
My mother wrapped her arms around me.
Mariana joined us, followed by my aunts, cousins, and friends. Even Lauren rested a gentle hand on my shoulder.
For the first time since I had discovered the affair, I allowed myself to feel everything.
The betrayal.
The humiliation.
The fear.
The relief.
Lucy kicked hard beneath my ribs.
“I know, baby,” I whispered. “Your family is dramatic.”
A few guests began removing the screenshots from the projector.
Others packed food into containers.
The party was clearly over.
Then Rachel approached me.
Her mascara had streaked beneath her eyes. She was still holding the gold-wrapped gift bag.
“I need to speak to you alone,” she said.
Mariana immediately stepped between us.
“No.”
“It’s important.”
“Everything you say can be said in front of me.”
Rachel looked toward the doors, making sure Adrian had gone.
Then she held the gift bag out to me.
“This isn’t a baby gift.”
I didn’t take it.
“What is it?”
“Something Adrian gave me yesterday.”
Mariana took the bag first and looked inside.
Her expression changed.
She pulled out a set of documents.
“What are these?” I asked.
Mariana unfolded the first page.
It was a bank transfer authorization.
The amount was written near the top.
$180,000.
My mouth went dry.
That was almost everything Adrian and I had saved.
The down payment for the larger apartment we planned to buy after Lucy was born.
I grabbed the paper.
The transfer was scheduled for Monday morning.
The receiving account belonged to a company I had never heard of.
Hudson Star Holdings LLC.
At the bottom of the page were two signatures.
Adrian’s.
And mine.
Except I had never signed it.
“That’s not my signature.”
“I know,” Rachel said.
Mariana examined the document.
“Where did you get this?”
“Adrian gave it to me. He said the money was for our new apartment.”
My stomach turned.
“Our?”
Rachel nodded slowly.
“He said that after the baby was born, you would be too exhausted to fight him. He said his mother had found a way to move the money before you filed for divorce.”
I thought of Teresa’s face.
You promised you would stay away until after the baby was born.
This had never been only about an affair.
They had been waiting.
Planning.
Preparing.
My phone buzzed inside my purse.
Then it buzzed again.
And again.
I pulled it out.
Three notifications from the bank.
TRANSFER REQUEST APPROVED.
TRANSFER PROCESSING.
FUNDS SENT.
I stared at the screen.
The transfer wasn’t scheduled for Monday anymore.
It had been completed four minutes earlier.
While Adrian was standing in the room pretending to be shocked by the divorce papers, someone had emptied our account.
Mariana took the phone from my hand.
“How did he authorize this without you?”
I looked toward the empty doorway.
Then I remembered something.
That morning, Adrian had brought me breakfast in bed.
He had kissed my forehead and asked to borrow my phone because his battery was dead.
He had kept it for less than two minutes.
Long enough to open the banking app.
Long enough to approve the transfer.
Long enough to steal everything.
I called him.
The call went directly to voicemail.
I called again.
Voicemail.
Then Rachel’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
“It’s Adrian.”
“Answer it,” Mariana said.
Rachel hesitated before pressing the speaker button.
“Adrian?”
His voice came through low and hurried.
“Did you give Camila the documents?”
Rachel looked at me.
“Yes.”
There was a long silence.
Then Adrian laughed.
Not nervously.
Not kindly.
Coldly.
“You stupid woman.”
“Where is the money?” I demanded.
He went silent.
“Adrian, where is my money?”
“You wanted a public performance,” he said. “Congratulations. Now you have one.”
“That money belongs to our daughter.”
“No,” he replied. “That money belongs to whoever reaches it first.”
Behind him, I heard a car door close.
Then another voice.
Teresa’s voice.
“Adrian, hurry. We’re going to miss the flight.”
My blood turned to ice.
“What flight?” I asked.
Adrian disconnected the call.
Rachel stared at the phone.
Mariana was already dialing the bank.
Lauren ran toward the door.
I stood frozen beneath the sign that read WELCOME, LUCY, holding proof that my husband had forged my signature and emptied our account.
Then another message appeared on my screen.
It was a photograph from Adrian.
He was sitting inside a car beside Teresa.
In his hand was a passport.
My passport.
Underneath the photograph, he had written six words:
You should have stayed quiet, Camila.
And that was when my water broke………………
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3…
