Chapter 5 - The Notebook of Lies
I placed the black notebook on the dining table.
Mark’s expression changed instantly.
Not anger.
Fear.
It was the first honest emotion I had seen from him that evening.
Emma looked from the notebook to his face.
“What is that?”
“Nothing,” he said.
I opened the cover.
His handwriting appeared on the first page.
Mark rushed forward, but the security officer blocked him again.
“Do not touch her belongings.”
“That belongs to me!”
“Then perhaps you should not have abandoned it in property you transferred.”
Rachel looked at me.
“Laura, what exactly is inside?”
“A record.”
“Of what?”
I turned several pages.
“Payments. Meetings. Women. Business promises. Loans.”
Mark’s face darkened.
“You have no right to read that.”
“I found it in the storage room six months after you moved out.”
Emma stepped closer to the table.
“Women?”
Mark pointed at me.
“She is trying to create drama.”
I read one entry aloud.
“March 14. Dinner with Vanessa. Told Emma I was traveling for work.”
Emma froze.
Mark stared at me with hatred.
“That is not what it means.”
I turned the notebook toward her.
“You can read his handwriting yourself.”
She took one step closer.
Mark grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t.”
Emma pulled away.
“Let go.”
“Laura is trying to destroy us.”
“No,” I said. “You wrote this before I even knew Emma existed.”
Emma reached for the notebook.
Mark slammed his hand against the table.
The loud sound echoed through the room.
Everyone stopped.
The security officer immediately spoke.
“Sir, control yourself.”
Mark looked around and realized how badly he had lost control.
His voice became soft.
“Emma, listen to me. That notebook is old.”
I turned to another page.
“May 2. Emma believes Vanessa is my former partner. Keep them separated until the transfer clears.”
Emma’s face lost all color.
“What transfer?”
Mark said nothing.
I continued.
“May 18. Emma signed the consulting agreement. She did not read the ownership clause.”
Emma slowly turned toward him.
“What ownership clause?”
He shook his head.
“She is misunderstanding it.”
I looked at Rachel.
“Can someone transfer company shares through a consulting agreement?”
Rachel’s eyes sharpened.
“Under certain conditions, yes.”
Emma’s breathing quickened.
“Mark, you told me those papers were for tax registration.”
“They were.”
“Then why did you write this?”
Mark reached for the notebook again.
The officer pushed his hand away.
“Final warning.”
Emma looked close to tears, but anger arrived before weakness.
“You used me?”
“No.”
“Did I sign over my company?”
“It is not that simple.”
“That means yes.”
She covered her mouth with one hand.
The young, confident woman who had entered my apartment vanished. In her place stood someone who had just realized she was not Mark’s new beginning.
She was another target.
I did not feel pleasure.
I knew too well what it was like to discover that the man beside you had been constructing a second life.
Emma looked at me.
“How long have you known?”
“About the notebook? A few months.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“I didn’t know who you were.”
She looked at Mark again.
He tried to move closer.
“Emma, let me explain.”
She stepped back.
“No.”
His phone suddenly rang.
He looked at the screen.
The name displayed there made his face turn even paler.
Vanessa Cole.
Emma saw it.
So did I.
The call stopped.
Then immediately began again.
Rachel crossed her arms.
“You may want to answer.”
Mark declined the call.
A message appeared seconds later.
He read it silently.
I watched his eyes move across the screen.
“What does she want?” Emma demanded.
He locked the phone.
“Nothing.”
The doorbell rang again.
This time, no one moved.
Then a woman’s voice sounded from the other side.
“Mark, open the door. I know you’re in there.”
Emma stared at him.
May you like
I recognized the voice immediately.
Vanessa had come herself.
