The name was Vanessa, my former girlfriend. We had ended our relationship years earlier, and she hadn’t taken the breakup particularly well. She had occasionally contacted me afterward, but I had made it clear that I was committed to Natalie. Marcus admitted Vanessa had approached him through social media, claiming she wanted to protect our family from a terrible secret.
I immediately called Natalie and explained what had happened. She listened quietly, then asked why I hadn’t told her about Vanessa’s previous messages. I realized I had made a mistake by keeping those uncomfortable encounters to myself. Natalie agreed to meet me the following morning, but she warned me that she needed the truth, not another excuse.
