Chapter 4 - The Woman in My Robe
I told Ethan I was leaving for a five-day conference in Chicago.
Instead, I returned that evening through the staff entrance.
Grace gave me a spare gray uniform, apron, and badge.
She removed my wedding ring and pinned my hair into a loose bun.
“Keep your head down,” she said. “He doesn’t look at us.”
She was right.
Two staff members passed me without recognition.
Ethan crossed the hallway once while speaking on his phone and never looked at my face.
The invisibility was humiliating.
It was also useful.
I heard Vanessa laughing before I saw her.
She sat on my couch with her feet beneath her, drinking from my crystal glassware.
My slippers were near the fireplace.
My perfume sat on the console table.
A garment bag from my closet hung over a chair.
She was not visiting Ethan.
She was practicing replacing me.
Then I heard them discussing a dinner planned for the following week.
Vanessa said:
“When do I stop sneaking through the service entrance?”
Ethan answered:
“After Evelyn signs the foundation restructuring papers.”
“And the house?”
“The trust will transfer management authority to me. Once that happens, she won’t be able to remove either of us.”
I stayed behind the cleaning cart.
My heartbeat became painfully slow.
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The affair was not the entire betrayal.
It was attached to a plan.
