Chapter 2

That woman's name was Vanessa Lane.

I heard her name when I was in the restroom stall.

I'd gone to Michael's office to wait for him to finish work. We'd planned to pick up Oliver from kindergarten together.

I arrived a bit early, and the receptionist, who knew me, smiled and said, "Mr. Quinn is in a meeting. Mrs. Quinn, please have a seat."

I nodded and headed to the restroom.

The restroom was at the end of the hallway, and the women's room had three stalls. I went into the last one, locked the door, and just as I did, two people came in.

I heard the click of heels, the flush of a toilet, and the sound of running water. Then one of them said, "Hey, did you see that? Mrs. Quinn is here."

The other one said, "Yeah, she was wearing that pink coat. It's this year's Burberry, right? She really knows how to dress."

"What's the point of dressing up? No matter how good she looks, she's not the one in her husband's heart."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know? Mr. Quinn is in love with someone else. Everyone in the company knows, except his wife."

"Who is it?"

"Vanessa. You probably missed it since you joined late. Vanessa used to work here, two years before Mr. Quinn came on board.

"Back then, he was just a regular staffer, and he fell for Vanessa the moment he saw her and chased after her for more than a year. Vanessa was married at the time. Her husband was a businessman, pretty well-off.

"So Mr. Quinn was waiting in the wings. Later, Vanessa had a daughter and got divorced. By then, Mr. Quinn had gotten promoted, and he quickly married his current wife."

"Is there something going on between Mr. Quinn and Vanessa now?"

"You have no idea how good Mr. Quinn is to Vanessa. After Vanessa got divorced, she opened a flower studio, and Mr. Quinn kept sending her clients.

"Last year, when she bought a house, word is, Mr. Quinn covered most of the cost."

"No way. I thought Mr. Quinn had given his wife his salary card?"

"He had, but what about his performance bonuses? His year-end bonus? You really think he hands all that over? Every month, he only gives his wife his base salary.

"The rest—all the bonuses and extra pay—gets sent to a different account. Everyone in finance knows, but nobody talks about it."

"Wow... So his wife really has no clue?"

"Of course not. If she knew, would she still be flaunting their relationship all the time? Have you seen her social media? She's constantly posting about Mr. Quinn making her soup and washing her underwear. It's honestly hilarious.

"We always say Mr. Quinn picked up all these moves from Vanessa. Back when Vanessa was still married, he was always fussing over her—making soup, doing her laundry, driving her everywhere.

"When Vanessa didn't marry him, he started doing all that for his wife instead."

"That's so gross."

"And here's the grossest part. Every time Mr. Quinn comes back from a business trip, the 'gifts' he gives his wife are just the freebies he gets when he buys designer stuff for Vanessa.

"One of our office girls was working at a Gucci store and saw him spend over 6,000 dollars on a bag, and then grab a free canvas bag from the next counter. Guess who got the tote?"

"Mrs. Quinn?"

"Yep. The designer bag goes to Vanessa, and the freebie gets handed off to Mrs. Quinn. And Mrs. Quinn even posted it online, saying 'Michael brought me a gift from his trip. I love it.'

"Everyone in the comments was hyping up how sweet he was. Can you believe how pathetic that is?"

"Seriously, that's tragic... And wicked."

"Wicked, right? But that's not even the worst of it. Every weekend, Mr. Quinn drags his wife and kid out for those parent-child activities. Ever wonder why he's so eager?

"It's because Vanessa has to teach classes at her studio on weekends, and her daughter has no one to watch her. So she drops the kid off at Mr. Quinn's place, and his mom ends up babysitting for free.

"The whole reason Mr. Quinn takes his wife and kid out is just to clear the place so his mom can look after Vanessa's daughter."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, you heard me. Mr. Quinn's mom is basically Vanessa's daughter's free nanny now. Vanessa's little girl actually calls Mr. Quinn 'Daddy Quinn'.

"I've seen her downstairs at the office, all sweet and clingy, calling him that like it's the most natural thing in the world. Mrs. Quinn's son is about the same age as Vanessa's daughter, but honestly?

"Mr. Quinn barely gives his own son the time of day—just enough to keep up appearances. The one he really dotes on is Vanessa's daughter. Whatever she wants, she gets. He treats her even better than her real dad ever could."

"So Mrs. Quinn really hasn't noticed anything?"

"Not at all. She's so clueless that she'd probably be helping them without knowing. Did you see her strutting in earlier? Chin up, grinning at everyone, acting like she owns the place just because she's Mrs. Quinn.

"The receptionist girls even call her 'Mrs. Peacock' behind her back. The more she tries to show off, the more ridiculous she looks."

"Man, that's just sad. Her husband treats her like a baby-making machine, and she still thinks she's the luckiest woman alive."

"Honestly, the worst part is that Mrs. Quinn has no idea Mr. Quinn's heart was never with her. He only married her because Vanessa wasn't divorced yet, and he couldn't wait any longer, so he just picked her to fill the spot.

"Once she had a son, her job was done, and now nobody even bothers with her. She's just a tool. Who cares how a tool feels?"

The two of them giggled for a bit, fixed their makeup, and walked out.

I stood there in the stall, frozen stiff, like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over me.