Did I Change The Keys?! I Was Shocked When I Couldn’t Open The Door… Then I Called My Son!
“Heavy day.”
“Heavy day?”
It was like he’d been the one lowering his father into the ground.
“When are you coming home?”
“Uh, probably late.”
“We might hit up a bar after this.”
“You should get some rest.”
“You look exhausted.”
“I look exhausted?”
Her voice cracked.
“Marcus, I buried my father today.”
“I know babe.”
“That’s why I’m saying you should rest.”
He sounded irritated now, like she was being unreasonable.
“Look, I got to go.”
“Order some food, take a bath.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He hung up before she could respond.
Maya sat there staring at her phone, and that’s when she saw it: a notification at the top of the screen.
Marcus’ Instagram had been tagged in a photo.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
There he was at some trendy restaurant she’d never heard of, sitting in a booth.
And next to him, pressed close, laughing at something he’d said, was a woman Maya had never seen before.
She was beautiful, polished, wearing a red dress that probably cost more than Mia’s monthly rent.
The caption read,
“Celebrating new beginnings with my favorite people.”
It was Marcus Rich and Vanessa Chen.
Vanessa Chen, senior marketing director at Marcus’ company.
Maya had heard the name before; Marcus mentioned her sometimes, his boss, the woman he was always having meetings with.
Mia clicked on Vanessa’s profile.
It was public, full of photos of expensive restaurants, luxury vacations, designer clothes—success personified.
And there, three photos down, was another one: Marcus and Vanessa.
His arm was around her waist, her hand was on his chest, both of them smiling like they had won the lottery.
It was posted 6 weeks ago.
While Maya’s father was dying, while Mia was spending every night at the hospital, while her world was ending, the caption read,
“When you know, you know.”
Mia’s vision blurred.
She scrolled further to more photos of Marcus and Vanessa at a concert, at a beach, and at what looked like a hotel room, though that one was more carefully cropped.
The affair had been going on for months, maybe longer, while Maya was pregnant with his child, while her father was dying.
While she was drowning in grief and fear and loneliness, Marcus had been building a whole other life with someone else.
She ran to the bathroom and vomited, her body rejecting the reality like poison.
When she finally stopped shaking, she looked at herself in the mirror.
Her eyes were swollen from crying, her face was pale.
Her pregnant belly pushed against her father’s oversized jacket.
She looked exactly like what she was—a broken woman who’d lost everything.
The Five Billion Dollar Truth and a New Beginning
And in that moment, staring at her own devastated reflection, Maya made a decision.
Tomorrow she would go to the bank.
She would open that safety deposit box.
She would find out what her father meant about being a Hartwell, about protection, about never being powerless.
Because right now she felt like the most powerless person on earth.
Her phone buzzed, a text from Marcus.
“BTW, we need to talk when I get home.”
“Something important.”
Those words, the ones that never mean anything good.
Maya knew what was coming.
She could feel it in her bones, the way you feel a storm rolling in.
But what she didn’t know, what she couldn’t possibly know, was that in exactly 18 hours, her entire world would flip upside down in ways she couldn’t imagine.
The next morning came too fast and too slow at the same time.
Maya hadn’t slept.
She’d spent the night on her father’s couch clutching his jacket, staring at the ceiling, waiting for Marcus to come home.
He never did.
At 6:00 a.m. her phone buzzed, a text.
“Crashed at Dave’s.”
“Coming by at 9:00.”
“We need to talk.”
“Important.”
Maya’s hands went to her belly.
Her baby, her little girl—the doctor had told her just last week—kicked hard like she could feel her mother’s fear.
“It’s okay sweet girl,”
Maya whispered.
“We’re going to be okay.”
“Your grandpa promised.”
“We just have to trust the plan.”
But she had no idea what the plan was.
At 8:30 a.m. Mia forced herself to shower, to put on clean clothes, to look like a person instead of a ghost.
She chose a simple black dress, the same one she’d worn to the funeral yesterday, because everything else felt too cheerful, too alive for how she felt inside.
She made coffee she wouldn’t drink.
She sat at the kitchen table and waited.
Marcus arrived at 9:15, which meant he’d made her wait on purpose.
It was a power play, and she recognized it now.
She wondered how many other small cruelties she’d missed while loving him.
He looked good, rested, like he hadn’t just attended his father-in-law’s funeral yesterday.
He was wearing cologne, expensive stuff he’d never worn around her.
For a flash, Maya wondered if he’d been with Vanessa all night.
“Hey,”
he said, not quite meeting her eyes.
“How you feeling?”
“How do you think I’m feeling, Marcus?”
“I buried my father yesterday.”
“Right.”
“Yeah.”
He sat down across from her and she saw it then: the folder in his hand.
It was manila and official-looking, the kind lawyers use.
Her heart started hammering.
“Look, there’s no easy way to say this.”
He slid the folder across the table.
“I want a divorce.”
The words hit her like a physical blow.
Even though she’d known, even though she’d seen it coming, hearing them out loud made them real in a way that stole her breath.
“What?”
“I’m not happy, Maya.”
“I haven’t been for a long time.”
His voice was rehearsed, like he’d practiced this speech.
“We’ve grown apart.”
“You’ve been so focused on your dad’s illness and I just, I need something different.”
“My dad just died yesterday.”
Her voice didn’t sound like her own.
“Yesterday, Marcus, and you’re asking me for a divorce today?”
“The timing isn’t ideal.”
“Isn’t ideal?”
She laughed, a broken sound.
“I’m 6 months pregnant with your baby.”
“My father, the only family I had left, just died.”
“And the timing isn’t ideal?”
“I know it’s hard, but prolonging this doesn’t help anyone.”
He was using his sales voice now, the one he used to close deals.
“I’ve already talked to a lawyer.”
“It can be simple.”
“Clean.”
“You keep the apartment.”
“I’ll pay child support.”
“We can both move on with our lives.”
“Move on?”
Maya’s hands were shaking.
“To what?”
“To who?”
She pulled out her phone, opened Instagram, and shoved it across the table.
“To her?”
Marcus’ face went carefully blank.
“Maya.”
“How long?”
Her voice rose.
“How long have you been sleeping with your boss while I was watching my father die?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like?”
She was shouting now, something she never did.
“Tell me, Marcus, what is it like to cheat on your pregnant wife while her father is dying of cancer?”
“What is it like to attend his funeral and then go out celebrating with your mistress?”
“What is it like?”
“Don’t make this ugly.”
His jaw was tight.
“I didn’t plan for this to happen.”
“Vanessa and I just, we connect on a level you and I never did.”
“She’s successful, ambitious, going places.”
“She understands the life I want.”
Every word was a knife.
“And what am I?”
Mia’s voice broke.
“What was I to you?”
“You were my wife.”
“Past tense.”
“You’re a good person, Maya.”
“You really are.”
“But you were never going to be enough.”
“Not for the life I want to build.”
The cruelty of it took her breath away.
“I’m pregnant with your child.”
“I know.”
“And I’ll support the baby financially.”
“I’m not a monster, but I can’t stay in a marriage that makes me miserable just because of biology.”
He stood up and buttoned his jacket.
“Sign the papers.”
“My lawyer will be in touch about the details.”
“I’ll come by this weekend to get my stuff.”
“Marcus, please.”
She hated the begging in her voice.
She hated that even now, after everything, some part of her wanted him to stay.
He looked at her then, really looked at her, and what she saw in his eyes was worse than anger.
It was pity.
“You’ll be okay, Maya.”
“You’re strong.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
And then he left.
Just walked out and left her sitting there 6 months pregnant, freshly orphaned, with divorce papers on the table and a future that looked like a black hole.
Maya sat in the silence, her father’s words echoing.
“I see it in his eyes. He looks at you like you’re a burden.”
Her phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.
“Hi Maya, this is Vanessa.”
“I know this must be hard for you but Marcus and I are in love.”
“We’d appreciate your discretion and cooperation during this transition.”
“We’d like to move forward with our lives as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
The audacity.
