The Woman Before Me

Amelia stared at the apartment door.

Vanessa Cole was outside.

Alexander's fiancée.

The woman he had chosen to marry after throwing Amelia out of his life.

And now, apparently, the woman who knew something about Alexander's past.

Daniel looked frightened.

"Amelia, whatever she tells you, don't believe everything immediately."

Amelia turned toward him. "You have already lied to me enough. Let me hear it from someone else."

She opened the door.

Vanessa stood in an elegant cream dress, holding a brown envelope. Her eyes moved from Amelia to Daniel before she stepped inside.

"So," Vanessa said coldly, "you finally know about the agreement."

Amelia folded her arms.

"I know my brother signed something using my name. I know Alexander knew who I was before we met. What I don't know is why you're involved."

Vanessa placed the envelope on the table.

"Because Alexander promised to marry me long before he met you."

Amelia felt her chest tighten.

"Why didn't he?"

"That's what I wanted to know, too."

Vanessa opened the envelope and removed an old photograph.

It showed Alexander standing beside a younger Vanessa at what appeared to be a formal family gathering. They looked comfortable together, as though they had known each other for years.

On the back of the photograph was a handwritten date.

Five years earlier.

Amelia looked up.

"You were together?"

"Our families wanted us to marry," Vanessa replied. "The arrangement would have strengthened both businesses. Alexander agreed at first."

"And then he met me?"

Vanessa nodded.

"After he met you, everything changed. He stopped answering my calls and refused to discuss the arrangement. A few months later, he married you."

Amelia struggled to understand.

"Why would he marry me instead?"

Vanessa's expression hardened.

"That is the question you should be asking him."

Daniel suddenly reached for the photograph.

"Vanessa, you need to leave."

She pulled it away.

"Not until she hears the truth."

"What truth?" Amelia demanded.

Vanessa took a deep breath.

"Alexander didn't just abandon our arrangement. His company had been negotiating a major investment connected to your family's inheritance. Your marriage changed who could control certain decisions."

Amelia stared at her.

"So you think he married me for money?"

"I think Alexander had a reason for choosing you, and I don't believe he has told you the whole story."

Amelia looked at Daniel.

He avoided her eyes.

"Tell me," she said. "Is she right?"

Daniel remained silent.

Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.

"That silence tells you everything."

"No," Amelia replied firmly. "It tells me that both of you are hiding something. I want evidence, not guesses."

For the first time, Vanessa looked surprised.

Amelia picked up the envelope and examined its contents. Beneath the photograph was a copy of an agreement between two companies. Several pages were missing, and the signature section was difficult to read.

But one name stood out.

Alexander Hayes.

Beside it was a date from several months before Amelia's wedding.

She read the page again.

"This doesn't prove why he married me," she said.

"No," Vanessa admitted. "But it proves he was involved in the business arrangement before your wedding."

Amelia returned the papers to the envelope.

"Then I'll ask him myself."

Vanessa stepped closer.

"Be careful, Amelia. Alexander doesn't like losing control of a situation."

Amelia met her gaze.

"Neither do I."

She walked out of Daniel's apartment with the envelope tucked beneath her arm.

For the first time since her marriage collapsed, she wasn't going to wait for Alexander to decide what she deserved to know.

She would find the truth herself.

That evening, Amelia arrived at Alexander's office.

His assistant tried to stop her, but Alexander's voice came from inside.

"Let her in."

Amelia entered and placed the envelope on his desk.

"Explain this."

Alexander glanced at the papers.

His expression changed immediately.

"Where did you get these?"

"That doesn't matter. Did you agree to marry Vanessa before you met me?"

He stood slowly.

"Our families discussed it."

"Did you promise her you would marry her?"

Alexander said nothing.

Amelia's eyes filled with disappointment.

"Did you marry me because of my family's inheritance?"

"No."

"Then tell me why you knew who I was before we met."

Alexander walked around his desk.

"Amelia, there are things about your family's past that you don't understand."

"Then explain them!"

He looked at her for a long moment.

Finally, he spoke.

"Your father and mine made an agreement years ago. It was supposed to protect both families. When your father died, everything changed."

Amelia felt the room go quiet.

"My father knew your family?"

Alexander nodded.

"And the agreement was never completed."

"Why wasn't I told?"

"Because your father made me promise that I would protect you."

Amelia stepped back.

"Protect me from what?"

Before Alexander could answer, his office door opened.

His mother, Eleanor Hayes, entered carrying a sealed folder.

She looked at Amelia, then at the documents on the desk.

"It seems you've discovered enough to become dangerous," Eleanor said.

Alexander's jaw tightened.

"Mother, not now."

But Eleanor placed the folder in front of Amelia.

"If you want the truth about your father, open this. Just understand that once you read it, there will be no going back."

Amelia stared at the sealed folder.

For years, she had believed her father's death was the end of her family's troubles.

Now she was beginning to suspect it had been the beginning.

She reached for the folder.

And Alexander whispered two words that made her stop.

"Don't open it."

END OF CHAPTER 5