Chapter 4 - HER HUSBAND CAME LOOKING
Ellie had no memory of arranging a meeting with Adrian Moretti.
When Adrian told her the next morning, she assumed he was mistaken.
“I’ve never contacted you.”
“Your assistant did.”
“I don’t have an assistant.”
“Then someone using your foundation email did.”
Ellie frowned.
“What foundation email?”
Adrian handed her a printed message.
The address contained her full name.
She stared.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Philip created the foundation account?”
“He handles everything financial.”
Ellie read the message.
Mr. Moretti,
Mrs. Hughes would like to privately discuss irregularities related to several riverfront property acquisitions.
The meeting was scheduled for 9:30 p.m.
Thirty minutes after the gala ended.
Ellie looked up.
“I didn’t write this.”
“I believe you.”
“Who did?”
“That is now a very important question.”
Ellie’s heart beat faster.
“Someone wanted us to meet.”
“Yes.”
“And then Philip left me near one of those properties.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian leaned against the window.
“That is what we need to determine.”
The police investigation moved slowly.
Philip hired expensive attorneys.
Statements became technical.
Timelines blurred.
But Ellie did something Philip never expected.
She refused to come home.
When she was discharged, Adrian offered a guest residence.
“No,” Ellie said.
“I didn’t say my house.”
“That makes no difference.”
“You need somewhere secure.”
“I have a friend.”
“Does Philip know where she lives?”
“Yes.”
“Then she isn’t secure.”
Ellie folded her arms.
Adrian looked at the sling.
“That gesture would be more convincing with two working arms.”
She almost smiled.
“Are you always irritating?”
“Only when I’m right.”
Eventually Ellie agreed to stay at an apartment owned by the Moretti organization.
The building had private security.
No visible guards.
No cages.
No locked doors.
That mattered.
On the third night, someone knocked at 11:17.
Ellie froze.
“Who is it?”
“Me.”
Philip.
Her blood went cold.
He had violated the protective order.
“Ellie.”
She backed away.
“Open the door.”
She reached for her phone.
“I know you’re in there.”
Then another voice spoke outside.
“You should leave.”
Adrian.
Silence.
Then Philip laughed.
“You keep appearing around my wife.”
“She isn’t your possession.”
“She’s still legally my wife.”
Adrian’s voice remained calm.
“And legally protected from you.”
“Did she tell you how unstable she gets?”
Ellie closed her eyes.
Philip continued.
“She cries. She exaggerates. She gets jealous.”
Adrian said nothing.
“She once threw a plate at me.”
Ellie whispered, “Liar.”
“She needs someone to manage her.”
Adrian’s answer was quiet.
“No. She needed someone to stop managing her.”
The hallway went silent.
Philip lowered his voice.
“You think she’s special?”
“No.”
Ellie felt an unexpected sting.
Then Adrian finished.
“I think she’s a person. That should have been enough.”
Ellie stared at the door.
Philip eventually left.
Police documented the violation.
But before leaving, he placed something outside.
A small red box.
Inside was Ellie’s wedding ring.
She had removed it at the hospital.
Philip had somehow obtained it.
Underneath was a note.
You can pretend this marriage is over.
But I know you.
You always come back.
Ellie tore the note in half.
Then she called a divorce attorney.
Two days later, Chicago society received the news.
ELLIE HUGHES FILES FOR DIVORCE FROM TECH EXECUTIVE PHILIP HUGHES.
Philip’s publicist moved fast.
Anonymous sources called Ellie emotionally unstable.
Articles mentioned her weight.
Her spending.
Her “close relationship” with Adrian Moretti.
A photograph of Adrian leaving the hospital went viral.
The implication was obvious.
She had been cheating.
Philip was the humiliated husband.
Ellie was the opportunist.
At breakfast, Ellie threw the tablet onto the table.
“He’s rewriting everything.”
Adrian sat across from her.
“Then write something he can’t change.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
“I’m not speaking to reporters.”
“I didn’t say reporters.”
“What are you suggesting?”
Adrian placed a folder between them.
Inside were financial records.
Property purchases.
Shell companies.
Transfer dates.
Ellie looked confused.
Then she saw one familiar signature.
Hers.
She stared.
“That isn’t my signature.”
“It appears on seventeen documents.”
“I never signed these.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“That is why Philip doesn’t merely want you back.”
Ellie looked up.
“He needs you back.”
“Why?”
Adrian pushed one final page toward her.
It showed twenty-eight million dollars transferred through a trust.
The named trustee was—
Ellie Hughes.
She stopped breathing.
May you like
Adrian spoke softly.
“If these records are real, your husband has been using your identity for years.”
