Page 27 of Never Have We Ever
Chapter 8
The evidence was undeniable. For once, it wasn’t Hailey who shoved it in Valeska’s face and taunted her with the truth she had courted all along.
It was Marlene, and her countenance was grim.
“I only show this to you because it affects both of our families.” Marlene took her iPad back and flipped the leather case over the screen. Too late. Valeska had seen the truththat always knocked on the back of her mind.
Her husband. With another woman.
It had started with paparazzi photos the Reiters paid to keep out of the press. Those could have been explained either way: André often had dinner with female colleagues and kissed them on the cheek when parting, but the young blonde on his arm in Copenhagen practically whispered in his ear and stroked his cock throughhis pants. Valeska had coolly shoved those photos aside and thanked her mother for taking care of them on the Dubois family’s behalf. The last thing the company needed was an adultery scandal to muddle their ongoing contracts.
These? Taken by a private investigator Marlene personally hired to follow her son-in-law around? The breaking point Valeska had never seen coming.
That was most definitelyLena in the back of an unmarked car with André. She wasn’t minding the children. She wasn’t even supposed to be in Monaco, where these photos were taken. She had told Valeska she was traveling to Hamburg for her sister’s wedding. Not only did those Mediterranean waves not look a lick like the German scenery, but Valeska was fairly certain that the nanny was not supposed to be canoodling withMonsieur Dubois.
“There are two things you can do with this information,” Marlene said with finality. “You know which path I suggest you take. Ultimately, it’s up to you.”
You want me to stay married to him.Valeska got up from the settee in her mother’s parlor and pretended to be enthralled with the sights of her childhood home.This is where I lived when I became engaged to André. This iswhere I brought my first baby when I had no idea what to do and was too terrified to be alone with her.
This was where her childhood had ended and her innocence faded. Long before she entered an arranged marriage, but the two events now felt so connected that she could barely breathe.
“I know you genuinely love him.” Marlene hoisted herself up with the aid of a cane. “But you must think rationally.You can use this information to leverage your own advancement in life.”
A larger allowance. Access to her own extramarital lovers. A separation that allowed her to save faceandacquire her own residence wherever she wanted in Europe. All three, if she really played her hand well.
Fuck you, André.
“It’s not like I haven’t suspected he’s been cavorting with other women since the day we gotback from our honeymoon.” Valeska pulled herself away from the window. “This is insulting. The nanny…Mein Gott.”
“Wasn’t she a friend of yours?”
“I thought shewas.The whole reason we hired her was so I had a German-speaker to talk to at home. Having nanny credentials was a bonus when André and I started having kids. Still, I never thought…”
“Unfortunately, husbands sleeping with the helpis an old tradition. So convenient, and most of them are young and dumb.”
Valeska glanced through the photos again. “Maybe it’s not what it seems, though. I guess it’s not farfetched that she would be in Monaco with him.”
“Please, Leska. I raised you to be smarter than this.”
“Yet you want me to stay married to him?”
“Because it’ssmart.Use these photos as leverage to get what you want. Tellhim he can keep his whores as long as you can live the life you want as well. He’ll probably even let you have the children full time. It’s not like he ever sees them, anyway.”
Apparently, he sees the nanny more than he sees his own children.How could Lena betray her like this? Weren’t they friends? Or was the line between boss and friend really that distinct? Then again, Valeska was well awarehow talented her husband was in the bedroom. One taste, and Lena was probably hooked.
Shit. She had probably heard the married couple often enough. Maybe had even seen them a time or two and decided she wanted in.
Still… her husband!
“I’ll have to think about it,” Valeska told her mother. “I don’t want to make any decisions while I’m incensed.”
“That’s good. Don’t be afraid to ask me foradvice. This wouldn’t be my first time seeing this in my own family.”
A photograph of Valeska’s parents hung above the fireplace. Marlene was only a few years younger than she was now, and she didn’t need the cane. Beyond that, however, she had barely aged. Part of it was good genetics that Valeska had inherited. The other part? Excellent surgeons.
Surgeons Valeska’s father paid for. The dynamicbetween her parents was similar to that of her and André. Mr. Reiter was away for work eighty percent of the time. Valeska rarely saw him growing up, and she only saw him on special occasions as an adult. The man barely knew his grandchildren. He did, however, always pay extra special attention to Valeska’s nanny thirty years ago.
“It’s endemic, isn’t it?”
