Chapter 11 - The Shattered Mirror
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Valerie backed down the porch steps, her heels clicking loudly against the wet concrete, before stumbling toward her luxury sedan and speeding away down Brookfield Avenue.
Leona closed the front door, locked it, and leaned her back against the heavy wood, taking three deep breaths to center her mind.
Her phone rang in her tote bag.
She pulled it out, expecting the hospital or her lawyer. It was Molly.
"Mom?" Molly’s voice was trembling, choked with fresh hysterics. "Mom, you need to come back to the hospital right now."
Leona’s heart stopped. "What happened? Did he have another stroke?"
"No," Molly sobbed loudly into the phone. "Dad's phone kept buzzing on the bedside table. I picked it up to turn off the alarm... and messages kept popping up on the screen."
Leona gripped her phone tighter, closing her eyes. "Molly..."
"It was from a woman named Valerie!" Molly cried out, her innocence shattering across the line. "She was asking about keys! She was saying she couldn't let you take the business accounts! She called him 'babe'!"
Silence stretched across the line, heavy and agonizing.
"Mom," Molly whispered, her voice small and broken. "Did Dad... is Dad cheating on you?"
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Leona opened her eyes, staring at the empty hallway of the home she had maintained for two decades. The time for protecting Molly from the harsh truth had officially expired.
"I'm coming back to the hospital right now, sweetheart," Leona said softly. "We will talk about everything."
