Chapter 6: The Message That Made Him Panic

In the hospital corridor that smelled of antiseptic, people sighed loudly.

The dimmed lights made the hall appear even quieter.

It was a place where happy endings and tragedies both occurred.

Brandon sent Anna to the emergency room.

The doctor carried out a detailed examination of her.

“Don’t worry, Ms. Smith’s fine, and the child is healthy.

“Remember to do your routine check-ups.”

Anna seemed to be dissatisfied with the doctor’s conclusion.

If she were healthy, how would she be able to keep Brandon here?

She lowered her eyes and placed a hand over her abdomen.

“Doctor, are you sure? I was in so much pain just now.”

The doctor glanced at the examination results again.

“Everything looks stable. Emotional stress can sometimes make discomfort feel more severe. Rest tonight and seek medical attention if you develop any concerning symptoms.”

Anna bit her lip.

Brandon, however, barely seemed to hear the conversation.

He kept looking at his phone.

There were several missed calls he had ignored earlier.

None were from me.

He remembered promising that he would return after bringing Anna to the hospital.

He had only intended to stay until the doctor confirmed that the baby was safe.

But Anna had cried and clung to him.

Then she said she felt dizzy.

Then she wanted water.

Then another examination had been ordered.

One delay followed another.

By the time Brandon looked through the window at the pale morning sky, several hours had passed.

His expression changed.

“Rhea.”

He stood abruptly.

Anna immediately grabbed his sleeve.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to her.”

Anna’s face stiffened.

“But I’m still here.”

Brandon pulled his sleeve from her hand.

“The doctor said you’re fine.”

“Brandon…”

His phone vibrated.

He looked down.

A message from me appeared on the screen.

[It’s over between us, Brandon.]

For several seconds, he did not move.

The words were simple.

There was no accusation.

No question.

No anger.

That frightened him more than anything else could have.

He called immediately.

The phone rang.

No answer.

He called again.

Still nothing.

Again.

Again.

Again.

“Rhea, answer me.”

His fingers began trembling.

Anna frowned.

“Maybe she’s asleep.”

Brandon looked at her sharply.

“She was waiting for me.”

Anna fell silent.

He remembered my expression in the parking lot.

I had not screamed.

I had not slapped him.

I had not even demanded an explanation.

I had simply asked whether he was leaving because of Anna.

And he had left.

He had promised to come back.

And he had not.

A strange panic rose inside him.

For years, whenever I became upset, he knew exactly what to do.

Flowers.

Jewelry.

A carefully planned trip.

A soft apology while holding me.

I had always forgiven him for the things I knew about.

What Brandon did not understand was that there were many things I had never known.

He had mistaken my trust for endless forgiveness.

“I have to go.”

He turned toward the elevator.

Anna hurried after him.

“What about me?”

He stopped.

She looked at him with reddened eyes.

“I’m carrying your child.”

That sentence would normally have made him turn around.

This time, however, Brandon stared at her as though hearing the words differently for the first time.

His child.

The secret he had just been celebrating with his friends.

The secret he had been determined to hide from his wife.

“Call your assistant or one of your friends,” he said.

Anna stared at him in disbelief.

“You’re leaving me alone because of her?”

Brandon’s expression darkened.

“She is my wife.”

Anna laughed bitterly.

“You remembered that now?”

He froze.

The question landed harder than she intended.

He did not answer.

Instead, he entered the elevator.

The doors closed between them.

Brandon continued calling me all the way to the parking lot.

By the time he reached his car, he had called more than twenty times.

I did not answer once.

He drove back to the hospital ward where he had left me.

My bed was empty.

The sheets had already been changed.

He grabbed the first nurse he saw.

“Where’s the patient who was here? Rhea Lowe.”

The nurse checked the records.

“Ms. Lowe completed her discharge earlier this morning.”

“Who took her home?”

“She left on her own.”

Brandon went pale.

“She was sick. Why would you let her leave alone?”

The nurse frowned at his tone.

“She was medically cleared for discharge and made her own arrangements.”

Brandon released her slowly.

He looked at the empty bed.

Only hours earlier, I had been lying there with an allergic reaction because he had allowed his friends and mistress to pressure me into drinking.

He had held my hand and promised to remain beside me.

Then Anna called.

And he left.

He rushed home.

“Rhea!”

His voice echoed through the house.

No answer.

He ran upstairs.

The bedroom looked almost normal.

That gave him a brief moment of relief.

Then he opened the closet.

Several of my most important belongings were gone.

My passport was missing.

My personal documents were gone.

The small suitcase I usually used for longer trips was missing too.

Brandon stood completely still.

He called me again.

This time, the automated voice told him my phone had been switched off.

“No.”

He rushed downstairs.

“Where did Mrs. Anderson go?” he demanded from the housekeeper.

She looked confused.

“Madam came home briefly earlier. She packed some things and left.”

“Did she say where?”

“No, sir.”

“Did anyone pick her up?”

“A car was waiting outside.”

Brandon's face lost all color.

He returned to the bedroom and began searching through drawers.

He did not know what he expected to find.

A note, perhaps.

An explanation.

Something that would prove my message was only written in anger.

Instead, he noticed the empty space where I normally kept my sapphire wedding ring at night.

The ring was gone.

His chest tightened.

He opened the safe.

My important jewelry remained there.

The expensive necklaces he had bought me.

The diamond earrings.

The luxury watches.

Almost everything he had given me was untouched.

Only the sapphire ring was missing.

That frightened him even more.

Because the sapphire ring was never about money.

It was about seventeen-year-old Brandon.

He sat on the edge of the bed and called his assistant.

“Find Rhea.”

His assistant hesitated.

“Sir?”

“Find out where she went. Check the airport, train stations, hotels—everything.”

“Understood.”

Brandon hung up.

Then his phone rang.

He answered instantly.

“Rhea?”

Anna’s voice came from the other end.

“Brandon, where are you? I’m scared. Can you come back?”

His expression turned cold.

“Not now.”

“But the baby—”

“The doctor said the baby is fine.”

Anna went quiet.

Then she asked softly, “Did Rhea leave you?”

Brandon tightened his grip on the phone.

“She’s angry.”

“So?”

“She’ll calm down.”

He sounded as though he were trying to convince himself.

Anna laughed quietly.

“You caught me sleeping with you in a hospital parking lot, and you still think she’s only angry?”

“Shut up.”

Anna stopped laughing.

Brandon ended the call.

He paced through the bedroom.

I had loved him for ten years.

He had pursued me relentlessly before we married.

Everyone knew it.

Even after marriage, he had always believed there was one absolute truth in his life.

Rhea would never leave him.

He could separate love from desire.

He could give his body to other women and still reserve his heart for me.

As long as I never learned the details, he told himself, nothing important would change.

He had created rules for his affairs.

Never appear in front of Rhea.

Never contact Rhea.

Never affect his marriage.

Anna had broken every rule.

But Brandon was finally beginning to understand that Anna was not the real reason his marriage was collapsing.

He was.

Hours later, his assistant called.

“Mr. Anderson, we haven’t found Mrs. Anderson at any of the usual places.”

“Keep looking.”

“There is something else.”

Brandon’s heart sank.

“What?”

“Mrs. Anderson contacted an attorney several days ago.”

His breathing stopped.

“What kind of attorney?”

There was a pause.

“A divorce attorney.”

Brandon slowly lowered himself onto the bed.

Several days ago.

That meant my decision had not begun in the parking lot.

It had not begun when he chose Anna over me at the hospital.

I had known before that.

He suddenly remembered the private room.

My strange expression.

The way I had looked at Anna.

The word I had said after drinking the wine.

First.

His mind raced.

First what?

Then another memory surfaced.

The way I had stared at him when he insisted Anna was pregnant.

The calmness in my eyes.

The absence of surprise.

Brandon stood abruptly.

“She knew.”

His voice trembled.

He finally understood.

I had known about Anna before the parking lot.

Perhaps I had known far more than he could imagine.

His phone slipped from his hand and hit the carpet.

For the first time in ten years, Brandon Anderson realized that the woman he believed would never leave him had already been preparing to disappear from his life.