Chapter 4 – Women in the Shadows

Eleanor could not rest after the truth of Anna. She had discovered the daughter Victor had kept hidden for thirteen years. But inside her heart, she knew this was not the only secret. She thought again and again, If he could hide a daughter, what else is he hiding?

The answer came faster than she expected.

One evening, Victor returned late. He threw his jacket on the chair. Eleanor’s eyes caught a slip of paper. It was not a hotel bill this time. It was a receipt for jewelry. She held it with shaking hands. The date was recent. She whispered, “He never gave me this. So who was it for?”

When Victor noticed the paper in her hand, his face turned hard. She asked softly, “Victor, for whom did you buy this necklace? Was it for me?”
He said coldly, “It is none of your business.”
Her voice cracked. “I am your wife. How is it not my business?”
He turned away, leaving her with tears streaming down her face.

The next morning, when Victor left the house, his second phone rang again. Eleanor stared at it. Her heart raced. She pressed the button. A woman’s voice said, “Carla, sweetheart, I got your rent money. Thank you, Victor. I will see you this weekend.”

Eleanor’s hand shook. She dropped the phone. She whispered, “Rent money? Sweetheart? Another woman?”

That night, she confronted him. “Who is Carla? Why are you paying her rent?”
Victor’s face went red. “Stop spying on me! You are making yourself sick.”
She cried loudly, “I am sick because of your lies. Tell me the truth, Victor. Who is she?”
He walked away without answering.

Her soul screamed inside her. So he is giving money to another woman. He is keeping her like a secret wife. And I am standing here like nothing.

The next days were worse. Eleanor found perfume on his shirt that she did not own. She touched the fabric and whispered, “This is not mine. This belongs to someone else.”

One evening, her neighbor came again. She said softly, “Eleanor, I don’t want to hurt you. But yesterday, I saw Victor at the restaurant. He was sitting with a younger woman. They were laughing. He was holding her hand.”

Eleanor’s face turned pale. She said, “Thank you.” Then she closed the door and collapsed into her chair. She cried like a child. She whispered, “Victor, how many women? How many lies? Why do you keep breaking me again and again?”

Later, when Victor was asleep, Eleanor opened his drawer once more. This time she found letters. Not old, but fresh. They were from another woman named Diana Moore. The words cut her soul. “I miss you. Thank you for the watch. You promised to marry me when things are easier. I am waiting.”

Her hand shook so much that the papers fell. She picked them up, one by one, her tears falling on the ink. She whispered, “Promised to marry? So even with me here, he is promising another woman a future.”

The next day, Eleanor placed the letters in front of him. Her voice broke. “Who is Diana? Why do you promise marriage to her? What am I to you then? A joke? A cover? A servant?”

Victor’s lips pressed tightly. He said nothing. She cried out, “Answer me!” He only shouted, “Stop touching my things!” Then he stormed away.

Eleanor sat in silence, holding the letters to her chest. Her whole body shook. She whispered, “I have given him everything. My time. My years. My loyalty. And in return, he gave me women in the shadows. Lies in the dark. Promises to strangers. And emptiness for me.”

She remembered his daughter Anna. She remembered Carla, the rent money. She remembered the perfume, the second phone, the jewelry, the letters of Diana. Each secret was like a stone on her heart.

That night, she spoke to herself in the dark. “I am not loved here. I am not respected here. I am only used. How long can I carry this pain? How long can I stay silent?”

Her tears fell again and again, but her voice grew stronger. “Victor, you will break me, but you will not destroy me. I am still here. I will not stay blind forever.”