Chapter 5
They checked into a different hotel across the city.
Madison sat on the edge of the bed, silent and shaking.
Helen sat beside her and took her hand.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Why is he like this?” Madison whispered. “He was never like this before. He used to talk about you every day. He’d show me your medals and tell me how brave you were.”
Helen’s throat tightened.
“People change when no one is watching.”
“Did he ever tell you about the foundation?”
Helen frowned.
“What foundation?”
“The Whitmore Family Support Fund. He started it about eight months ago. Vanessa runs it. They raise money for military families... but Dad never mentioned you once.”
Helen pulled out her laptop again.
She opened the foundation page.
The first photo was Grant and Vanessa at a fundraising dinner.
The caption read: Founded by Grant and Vanessa Whitmore to honor the service of our nation’s heroes.
No mention of Helen.
No mention that the founder’s own wife had served twenty years in the army.
She clicked through the donation records.
Millions of dollars.
And every single event listed Vanessa as the founder and patron.
Her phone rang again.
Grant.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you can’t reach me.”
“Helen, come home. We can fix this.”
“Fix it? You can’t fix what you destroyed.”
“I made a mistake. I was lonely. You were gone for months at a time. I needed someone there.”
“Loneliness doesn’t make you erase a person’s entire existence!”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Then why did you tell everyone she was your wife? Why did you give her my things? Why did you cut my face out of our family photo?”
He went quiet.
“I need you to come back so we can talk face to face.”
“I’m not coming back to that house until you tell me the truth. All of it.”
“Fine,” he said, his voice turning cold. “Then I’ll see you in court. And don’t think for a second you’re going to take half of what’s mine.”
Helen’s blood ran cold.
“Yours?”
“I built this company from nothing while you were away playing soldier. Everything I have is mine.”
“You built it on the money I sent home! You built it while I was risking my life so you could sit in an office and sign papers!”
“Prove it.”
He hung up.
Helen stared at the screen.
He was planning to fight her.
May you like
He was planning to take everything.
And she had no idea how deep his lies went.
