Chapter 2 - The Basement Room
Maya led us downstairs.
I carried Sophia the entire way.
Victoria followed with security.
So did my father.
Caroline came too.
Nobody spoke.
The hotel basement smelled like detergent and hot pipes.
Maya stopped at a narrow storage room behind the laundry department.
She opened the door.
Inside was a thin mattress.
Two blankets.
A cracked plastic cup.
A grocery bag holding three cans of soup.
And on the floor beside the mattress was a woman’s purse.
I knew it.
My wife’s.
“Emily?”
My voice came out wrong.
Sophia clung tighter to my neck.
“Mommy sleeps here.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
Sophia nodded.
“When Grandma gets mad.”
My mother snapped:
“That is nonsense.”
Maya turned.
“I have security footage.”
Victoria stopped.
My father looked at her.
“What footage?”
Maya unlocked her tablet.
The first clip showed Emily entering the basement late at night with Sophia.
Another showed Victoria blocking the service elevator.
Another showed my mother handing cash to a hotel supervisor.
Then came audio.
Victoria’s voice:
“If anyone asks, Mrs. Sterling is staying with relatives.”
I stared at her.
“You told me Emily moved out.”
“She did.”
“She was here.”
“For a few nights.”
Maya shook her head.
“Seven weeks.”
My stomach dropped.
Seven weeks.
I had been in Singapore for a merger.
Then London.
Then Dubai.
Every night I called.
Emily told me she was tired.
She refused video calls.
I thought she was angry.
Victoria told me Emily wanted space.
I believed her.
Maya opened another clip.
Emily stood near the kitchen door holding Sophia’s hand.
A chef gave her a plate of food.
Victoria appeared.
She took the plate.
Then said:
“You will not steal from my hotel.”
Sophia started crying.
I turned toward my mother.
“Why?”
Victoria lifted her chin.
“Because your wife was using you.”
“For food?”
“She was manipulating you.”
I almost laughed.
“You mean the woman I married?”
Caroline whispered:
“Daniel…”
I turned.
“You knew?”
She looked away.
That was enough.
My father said:
“Let’s go upstairs and discuss this calmly.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“We discuss it here.”
Then Maya handed me an envelope.
“Your wife left this with me three days ago.”
My name was written on the front.
Inside was a bank statement.
Every monthly transfer I sent to Emily had arrived.
Then, within twenty-four hours, almost all of it moved into an account I did not recognize.
The transfer authorization carried Emily’s signature.
I knew immediately it was fake.
Maya whispered:
“There’s more.”
The destination account belonged to Sterling Family Services.
May you like
A company controlled by Victoria.
And the total taken over eleven months was fifty-three thousand dollars.
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