Chapter 2 - NINE DAYS EARLIER
Nine days before the funeral, Elena was helping Sophie button her yellow raincoat when Silas entered the kitchen.
He had not slept at home.
Again.
His white shirt was wrinkled, and he smelled faintly of Margot’s perfume.
Elena had recognized that perfume months earlier.
Margot wore it at company dinners, charity galas, and every private meeting she attended with Silas.
At first, Elena had told herself she was imagining things.
Then she found a hotel receipt in Silas’s coat.
One room.
Two breakfasts.
Margot’s initials written beside the reservation number.
Elena had not confronted him immediately.
She had spoken to Samantha first.
Not because she wanted revenge.
Because Lily and Sophie were beneficiaries of a trust created by Elena’s late mother, and Silas had recently begun asking strange questions about it.
Who controlled the voting shares?
What happened if Elena became ill?
Could a spouse serve as temporary trustee?
The questions frightened her more than the affair.
That morning, Lily sat at the breakfast table drawing purple stars on her science worksheet.
“Are you coming to our recital tonight, Dad?”
Silas did not look at her.
“I have a board meeting.”
“You said you’d come.”
“I said I would try.”
Lily lowered her eyes.
Sophie climbed onto her chair and whispered, “Mom always comes.”
Silas glanced at Elena.
The look was brief but sharp.
Elena touched Sophie’s shoulder.
“I’ll pick both of you up after the recital.”
“No,” Silas said.
Elena turned.
“What?”
“My driver will bring them home.”
“You just said you had a board meeting.”
“I made arrangements.”
“I can pick up my own daughters.”
Silas opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of water.
“You’ve been exhausted lately.”
“I’m fine.”
“You forgot Lily’s dentist appointment last month.”
“I rescheduled it because Sophie had a fever.”
“You also left the stove on.”
“For thirty seconds.”
Silas smiled without warmth.
“You see? You always have an explanation.”
Elena realized the girls had stopped eating.
She lowered her voice.
“We can discuss this later.”
Silas stepped closer.
“My driver will collect them at eight.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
Lily stood and wrapped her arms around Elena’s waist.
“We want Mom.”
Silas looked at his daughter as if her preference were an insult.
Then his phone lit up.
Margot’s name appeared.
He turned the screen over.
Elena saw it anyway.
“Are you sleeping with her?”
The kitchen became silent.
Sophie’s small hand tightened around Elena’s sleeve.
Silas looked toward the girls.
“Go upstairs.”
Neither child moved.
Elena kissed Lily’s forehead.
“Take your sister. I’ll be up in a minute.”
Once they were gone, Silas approached Elena.
“You should be careful what you accuse people of.”
“I saw the hotel receipt.”
His face did not change.
“I want a divorce.”
Elena had imagined saying those words for weeks.
They still hurt.
Silas studied her.
Then he looked toward the staircase where their daughters had disappeared.
“You have no idea what you’re starting.”
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👉 Elena believed she was ending an unfaithful marriage—but Silas was already planning to take control of something far more valuable than the house.
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