My Wife Told Everyone I Was ‘Just a Driver’ — Then I Found Out Her Secret Too.
Chapter 2
Daniel didn’t confront Claire that night.
He went home.
Made Sophie dinner.
Helped her with a spelling worksheet.
Read her a bedtime story.
And acted like nothing had happened.
Claire returned at nearly midnight.
She walked into the bedroom and looked surprised to see him awake.
“You didn’t go to sleep?”
“Not yet.”
She removed her earrings.
“Sorry. The dinner ran late.”
Daniel looked at her reflection in the mirror.
“How was it?”
“Fine.”
“Anyone ask about me?”
Claire laughed lightly.
“Why?”
“Just wondering.”
She turned.
“Daniel, not tonight.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
She changed clothes.
Then she walked past him.
He watched her.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“Do you think I’m just a driver?”
She froze.
For a second, he saw fear in her eyes.
Then it disappeared.
“Why would you ask that?”
“I heard you.”
Silence.
Claire looked away.
“Daniel, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“What did you mean?”
“People were joking.”
“They asked what I do.”
“And I answered.”
“By reducing six years of my life to two words?”
She sighed.
“You know how those people think.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I do.”
She sat on the edge of the bed.
“You don’t understand the pressure I’m under.”
“I understand more than you think.”
“Then stop making this a bigger issue.”
Daniel almost laughed.
A bigger issue.
He thought about the photograph.
The unknown man.
The hotel key.
He wanted to show her.
Instead, he asked,
“Who is Mark Dalton?”
Claire’s face changed.
Only for a second.
But Daniel noticed.
“Why do you know that name?”
“Heard it at work.”
“That’s not true.”
She stood.
“You’ve been checking on me?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know him?”
Daniel stared.
She had answered a question with another question.
He had learned enough to know that meant something.
“I think we should sleep.”
Claire walked past him.
She turned off the light.
But neither slept.
The following morning, Daniel did something he had never done before.
He followed her.
Claire left for work at eight.
Daniel waited ten minutes.
Then drove after her.
He didn’t follow her to the office.
Instead, he watched from across the street.
At eleven-thirty, Claire left the building with Mark Dalton.
The man from the photograph.
They entered a black sedan.
Daniel followed.
The car stopped at a private law office.
Claire and Mark went inside.
Daniel parked two blocks away.
An hour later, Claire came out alone.
She was carrying a thick brown folder.
Daniel waited.
Then Mark emerged.
He looked around nervously.
Someone else was with him.
An older man.
Daniel recognized him.
Richard Hale.
The chairman of the investment firm where Claire worked.
Richard was known for being ruthless.
And now Daniel noticed something strange.
Mark handed Richard an envelope.
Richard glanced inside.
Then looked directly toward Daniel’s car.
Daniel ducked.
His heart pounded.
They had seen him.
Maybe.
Or maybe not.
Then his phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
You shouldn’t be following them.
Daniel stared at the message.
A second one appeared.
Because the secret you’re looking for is bigger than your marriage.
