Chapter 3 - Before Julia, There Was MarcusJulia did not scream.
Later, she would remember that.
She would remember standing inside the bedroom where she had slept beside Caleb for almost ten years and feeling strangely detached from her own body.
Six weeks.
Their tenth anniversary was six weeks away.
She looked at her husband.
“You were going to leave me.”
Caleb’s head came up.
“No.”
Marcus made a sound that was almost a laugh.
Julia turned.
“What?”
Marcus looked at Caleb.
“Tell her.”
Caleb’s voice hardened.
“There was no final decision.”
Julia felt nausea rise.
“No final decision.”
“I had considered things.”
“What things?”
“Julia—”
“Divorce?”
Silence.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Julia looked at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“A few months.”
She turned back to Caleb.
“You planned to divorce me after the trust became yours.”
“I didn’t plan it like that.”
“Then explain the timing.”
Caleb paced toward the window.
For years, Julia had watched him do that during difficult conversations.
He needed movement when cornered.
She used to find it endearing.
Now she saw it as escape.
“When Marcus and I reconnected,” Caleb began, “I started questioning what I wanted.”
Julia stared.
“You mean after you started cheating.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt.
He continued.
“I didn’t know whether I could keep living like this.”
“Like what?”
He looked at her.
“Split.”
Julia laughed in disbelief.
“You were not split, Caleb. You were lying.”
He flinched.
“I know that now.”
“You knew it then.”
He said nothing.
Marcus leaned against the wall.
Julia suddenly hated that he was still there.
“You need to leave.”
Marcus looked surprised.
“I think there are things—”
“You have had ten years to tell me things.”
“Julia—”
“Get out.”
Marcus looked at Caleb.
That glance made her angrier.
“Stop looking at him for permission.”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“You’re right.”
He walked toward the door.
Then paused.
“Julia.”
She didn’t respond.
“There’s a black house on Blackwood Lane in Greenwich.”
Caleb’s head snapped around.
“Marcus.”
Julia looked between them.
“What?”
Marcus continued.
“Number twenty-eight.”
“Get out,” Caleb said.
Marcus ignored him.
“Ask Caleb who owns it.”
Julia felt cold.
“What house?”
Marcus opened the door.
“Please check before he has time to move anything.”
Then he left.
Caleb went after him.
“Marcus!”
Julia stepped between Caleb and the hallway.
“Don’t.”
“He is trying to destroy everything.”
Julia stared at him.
“No. He opened a closet door Lily already opened.”
Caleb stopped.
Downstairs, the television played loudly.
Julia could hear cartoon music.
Lily.
The most important person in the house.
Julia took a slow breath.
“I want you to leave too.”
Caleb’s face changed.
“This is my home.”
“And mine.”
“Julia.”
“I need to think.”
“We should talk.”
“I cannot think while looking at you.”
He stared.
“You’re taking Marcus’s word over mine?”
Julia almost laughed.
“I found him in your closet.”
Caleb looked away.
She continued.
“And every answer you’ve given me has only happened after he forced you to give it.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Fair?”
Her voice finally rose.
“Do not use that word with me today.”
Silence.
Caleb lowered his voice.
“Lily is downstairs.”
Julia immediately quieted.
He knew exactly where to aim.
He always had.
She suddenly wondered how many arguments ended because Caleb invoked Lily.
We shouldn’t fight in front of her.
This isn’t good for Lily.
Let’s keep things stable for Lily.
Sometimes those statements had been wise.
Sometimes convenient.
“Pack a bag,” Julia said.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“You can’t just kick me out.”
“I am asking you to leave for tonight.”
“And tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
His expression hardened.
“You’re going to call an attorney.”
Julia stared.
Interesting.
“Why is that your first thought?”
Caleb realized his mistake.
“It’s obvious.”
“Maybe.”
He watched her.
She saw fear.
Not heartbreak.
Not yet.
Calculation.
“How much is the trust worth?”
He shook his head.
“Not now.”
“How much?”
“Julia.”
“How much money did you need me to be your wife for?”
His jaw tightened.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Give me a number.”
He looked toward the hallway.
Then back.
“Depending on valuations, somewhere between fourteen and eighteen million.”
Julia felt almost nothing.
The number was too large to process.
She worked in pharmaceutical marketing.
They lived comfortably.
Caleb earned well as an architect.
But fourteen million dollars belonged to another universe.
“And you were willing to build a marriage around that.”
“I built a marriage because I loved you.”
“With an eighteen-million-dollar incentive.”
He looked wounded.
She did not care.
“Does Lily know?”
“No.”
“Does your father?”
“That Marcus and I are together again?”
Julia flinched at the word together.
Caleb noticed.
“No.”
“Would that matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My father hasn’t changed.”
Julia stared.
“So you’re still hiding.”
“Yes.”
“And I’m still useful.”
“No.”
“You were going to wait until the anniversary.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
He didn’t answer.
“After the money?”
Silence.
Julia closed her eyes.
There it was.
Again.
She picked up her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking Blackwood Lane.”
Caleb’s face went pale.
“Julia.”
She searched the address.
28 Blackwood Lane, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Property databases showed a beautiful cedar-and-glass home tucked on almost two wooded acres.
Estimated value:
$2.4 million.
Owner:
BWL Residential Holdings LLC.
Julia looked at Caleb.
“What is BWL?”
He said nothing.
She searched the LLC.
The registered manager was Marcus Vale.
Her stomach dropped.
“You bought him a house?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Everything is complicated when you’re lying.”
Caleb rubbed his forehead.
“The property is part of an investment.”
“With Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“How much of our money is in it?”
“Not our money.”
Julia stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Family money.”
“Your trust?”
“An advance.”
She felt cold.
“You already accessed trust money?”
“Some distributions were allowed.”
“How much?”
Caleb looked away.
“How much?”
“Six hundred thousand.”
Julia sat down.
“You put six hundred thousand dollars into a house controlled by the man you’re sleeping with.”
“It wasn’t for that.”
“What was it for?”
Caleb’s silence answered.
A place.
A future.
Something built outside Julia’s marriage.
She looked around the bedroom.
The photographs.
A framed picture of Julia and Caleb hiking in Vermont.
Lily between them at Disney World.
A wedding photograph.
She wondered whether Caleb had been building two homes emotionally long before he built the second physically.
“When did you buy it?”
“Last year.”
Before the affair supposedly restarted.
Julia looked at him.
“You said eight months.”
“That’s when Marcus and I…”
He stopped.
“Say it.”
“When we became physical again.”
The phrase struck hard.
“So the house came first.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Caleb looked tired now.
“Because I thought after the anniversary I might need somewhere.”
Julia’s eyes filled again.
He had prepared an exit before restarting the affair.
That meant this wasn’t passion that accidentally shattered a marriage.
It was architecture.
Caleb was an architect.
Of course he had drawn the escape before using it.
Julia stood.
“Leave.”
“Julia.”
“Now.”
He stared at her for several seconds.
Then went to the closet.
The same closet.
He took out a travel bag.
Julia couldn’t look.
Twenty minutes later, Caleb stood downstairs.
Lily ran to him.
“Where are you going?”
He crouched.
“Just staying somewhere tonight.”
“Why?”
His eyes moved toward Julia.
She hated that Lily was already inside the lie.
“Mom and I need some grown-up time.”
Lily frowned.
“Is Uncle Marcus mad?”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Why was he hiding?”
Caleb looked toward Julia.
She stepped forward.
“We’ll talk about it later, sweetheart.”
Caleb hugged Lily.
Too long.
When he left, Julia locked the door.
Then she sat at the kitchen table.
Lily climbed into the chair beside her.
“Are you getting divorced?”
Julia’s heart broke.
“What makes you ask that?”
“Emma Sullivan’s parents got divorced and her dad slept somewhere else first.”
Julia almost smiled through tears.
Children collected patterns adults underestimated.
“I don’t know yet.”
Lily stared at the table.
“Did Dad do something bad?”
Julia chose her words carefully.
“Dad hid something important from me.”
“Uncle Marcus?”
“Yes.”
Lily considered.
“Is Uncle Marcus Dad’s boyfriend?”
Julia stopped breathing.
“Why would you ask that?”
Lily shrugged.
“I saw them holding hands.”
Julia felt the room go cold.
“When?”
“At Grandpa Harrison’s lake house.”
“When were you there?”
“Last month.”
Julia had been in Boston for work.
Caleb took Lily to Harrison’s property for the weekend.
“Where were they?”
“Outside by the dock.”
Lily looked worried.
“Was I not supposed to see?”
Julia reached for her hand.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Dad saw me.”
Julia’s pulse changed.
“What did he say?”
“He said Marcus was upset and he was helping him.”
Of course.
Another explanation.
Julia kissed Lily’s forehead.
“You’re okay.”
That night, after Lily fell asleep, Julia searched 28 Blackwood Lane again.
Then Marcus’s name.
Then Caleb’s.
Most searches led nowhere.
At 11:18 p.m., an email arrived from an address she didn’t recognize.
No subject.
One attachment.
A PDF.
Julia hesitated before opening it.
The document was a lease agreement for 28 Blackwood Lane.
Tenant:
Caleb Mercer.
Co-occupant:
Marcus Vale.
Start date:
July 1.
Six weeks after Julia and Caleb’s tenth anniversary.
At the bottom was another document.
A draft petition for divorce.
Petitioner:
Caleb Mercer.
Respondent:
Julia Mercer.
It had been prepared three months ago.
May you like
Caleb had not been considering leaving.
He had already chosen the date.
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