His Ex-wife Betrayal

CHAPTER 9

Rachel's hands shook as she slid a photograph across the coffee shop table. 

The image showed purple bruises covering her ribcage, dark and cruel against her pale skin.

Damien stared at the image, his stomach twisting. The woman sitting across from him was in her early thirties, pretty in a worn-down way, with dark circles under her eyes that spoke of too many sleepless nights. She kept glancing toward the door, like she was expecting someone's attack.

Every time the bell chimed, signaling a new customer, she flinched. 

"That was after I told Derek I wanted to end things," Rachel said quietly. Her voice carried the flatness of someone who had told this story before, to police officers and therapists who probably hadn't believed her. 

"He put me in the hospital with Cracked two ribs and a cheekbone." She pulled out another photo, this one a medical report with Memorial Hospital's letterhead.

Damien recognized the hospital's logo immediately. The same place Lisa had been taken. His hands clenched into fists on the table. 

"Did you press charges?" 

Rachel's laugh was bitter. "I tried. I filed a police report, got a lawyer, the whole thing. Then Derek's firm got involved. Morrison and Barrett don't let their managing partners get arrested for domestic violence. It's bad for business." 

She pulled out a document, sliding it across the table. Non-Disclosure Agreement, the header read, with Rachel's signature at the bottom next to a payment amount that made Damien's breath catch. Fifty thousand dollars. 

"They paid you to stay quiet." Rachel nodded, shame coloring her cheeks. 

"I was broke. Derek had gotten me fired from my job, and he turned my friends against me. Fifty thousand felt like a lifeline."

The coffee shop's fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting harsh shadows across Rachel's face. 

Outside, rain began to fall, drumming against the windows in a steady rhythm. 

Damien pushed the documents back toward her. "Why tell me now? The NDA is still valid. They could sue you for everything." 

Rachel met his eyes, and he saw steel beneath the fear. "Because I watched the news coverage of your custody battle. I saw your little girl's picture and I realized Derek was doing it again." Her voice broke slightly. "He's not just a cheater or an abuser. He's a predator who picks his targets carefully. And you never even saw it coming, did you?"

Damien's throat felt tight. "I don't understand. I've never even met Derek before this started. Why would he target me?" 

Rachel pulled out her phone, scrolling through saved screenshots. "That's what I thought too, at first. Derek told me our breakup was about us, about me being too clingy. But after the NDA, I couldn't let it go. I spent months digging into his past, trying to understand why." 

She turned the phone toward Damien. "Two years ago, you conducted an audit for a company called Northstar Technologies. Remember?" 

Damien frowned, thinking back. "Vaguely. It was routine work. I found some expense irregularities and reported them to my supervisor. That was Standard procedure."

"That audit triggered a SEC investigation. Northstar was a client of Morrison and Barrett, and Derek personally handled their account. The investigation cost his firm eight million dollars in fines and legal fees. Derek almost lost his partnership." 

The words made Damien freeze. His routine audit— his job. That's what had painted the target on his back. "You're saying he researched me because of a work audit?" 

Rachel nodded slowly. "Derek doesn't forget things…Ever. I found records of G****e searches on his laptop before he knew I was looking. Your name, your wife's name, your address, your daughter's school. He spent months studying you."

Damien felt bile rise in his throat. The coffee in his cup had gone cold, a thin film forming on the surface. "How did he find Lisa?" 

Rachel pulled out more screenshots, these showing F******k messages. "Social media. Your wife posted publicly about being frustrated with your work hours, about wanting a bigger house. Derek saw an opening. He arranged a meeting at a charity gala she attended with her mother. He made it seem like fate."

She swiped to another screenshot. "He researched her favorite books, her music taste, and her dream vacation spots. Everything he needed to become exactly what she wanted."

The manipulation was precise. Damien thought of all those early days when Lisa came home glowing, talking about this wonderful man she had met who just understood her, it had all been theater. 

Rachel continued, her voice dropping lower. "The affair wasn't random, Damien. The timing of the hospitalization wasn't random. Derek knew exactly how rough to be, knew it would create medical evidence that would humiliate you. He wanted you to find out in the worst possible way." 

Damien's vision blurred with rage. "He hurt her on purpose and put her in the hospital deliberately." Rachel's nod was solemn. "Everything was calculated to inflict maximum damage. The custody battle, dragging Emma through it, using Judge Harrison's connections. It was all part of destroying you."

The rain outside increased, and a crack of thunder made Rachel jump. 

Damien reached across the table, steadying her trembling hand. "Will you testify? If we reopen the case, if we expose what he did?" 

Rachel's eyes filled with tears. "I want to. God, I want to. But Damien, you don't understand how powerful Derek is. The NDA isn't just about money. He has lawyers who will bury me and he knows people. Dangerous people." 

Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "After I signed the NDA, someone broke into my apartment. They didn't steal anything, they just left a note on my pillow that said, 'We know where your sister lives.'"

Damien felt ice flood his veins. "He threatened your family." 

Rachel pulled her hand back, wiping at her eyes with a napkin. "My sister has two kids. She doesn't even know about Derek, about any of this. I can't put her at risk." 

Damien understood. This wasn't just about legal battles and custody arrangements. Derek operated on a different level, one where rules didn't apply. 

"I'll find a way to protect you," Damien said. "Both of you. Richard Chen has resources. We can arrange security, maybe even get the FBI involved if Derek's crossed certain lines."

Rachel looked at him like he was naive. Maybe he was. But what choice did they have? Let Derek keep winning? Keep destroying lives because no one dared to stop him? 

"Think about it," Damien pressed. "But Rachel, if you decide to help, we need everything. All the documents, all the messages, everything you have on him." 

Rachel was quiet for a long moment. Outside, a car alarm blared then cut off abruptly. Finally, she nodded. "I have backups. Cloud storage Derek doesn't know about. If we do this, I want immunity from the NDA breach. And protection for my sister. Non-negotiable."

Damien pulled out his phone and typed quickly, forwarding Richard Chen's contact information.

“Call him tomorrow. Tell him everything you told me. He'll arrange the immunity and protection." 

They sat in silence for a moment, this wasn't just about custody anymore. This was about stopping a predator who had operated unchecked for years. 

Rachel gathered her documents, stuffing them back into a worn leather bag. "Be careful, Damien. Derek has eyes everywhere, he probably already knows we met." 

The warning sent a chill down Damien's spine. He left cash on the table for both their coffees and walked Rachel to her car, an old Honda parked under a broken streetlight.

The parking lot was nearly empty, puddles reflecting the neon signs from nearby businesses. 

Rachel unlocked her car and paused. "Your wife, Lisa. Does she know? About Derek's real motivations?" 

Damien shook his head. "I don't think so. She believed it was real." 

Rachel's expression softened with something like pity. "Then she's a victim too, in her own way. Derek's good at making people believe his lies." She got into her car and drove away, taillights disappearing into the rain. 

Damien stood there for a moment, letting the rain soak through his jacket. Everything he had known about his marriage, his betrayal, had just changed. Lisa hadn't just fallen for another man. She had been weaponized.

Damien walked to his car and started the engine, pulling out onto the main road. The streets were slick with rain, streetlights blurring in the wet windshield. He was three blocks from the coffee shop when he noticed it. 

His phone buzzed, it was a text from Richard: “Rachel Santos, she just reached out to me. Interesting.”

Rachel had already reached out to Richard. “That was fast,” he muttered to himself.

A black sedan, two cars back, matching his turns. At first, he told himself he was being paranoid. Then the sedan followed him through four consecutive turns, maintaining the same distance. 

Damien's heart rate spiked. He changed lanes abruptly, and the sedan followed. He changed back, and the sedan matched him. This was deliberate. Someone was tailing him, and they weren't trying to hide it. The intimidation was the point.

Damien's phone was in the cup holder. He thought about calling the police, but what would he say? Someone's following me? They would tell him to drive to the station. But leading whoever this was straight to the police felt wrong. He needed to know who they were or what they wanted. The next red light gave him his chance. Damien pulled up to the intersection and waited. 

The black sedan stopped directly behind him. In his rearview mirror, Damien could see the driver clearly. A large man, shaved head, wearing sunglasses despite the darkness and rain. Damien threw his car into park and got out.

The rain immediately soaked through his clothes. He walked back to the sedan, his hands visible and unthreatening. 

The driver's window rolled down slowly, revealing the man's face. He wasn't smiling. "Get back in your car, Mr. Webb," the man said. His voice was flat. 

Damien stayed where he was. "Who are you? Why are you following me?" The man stared at him for a long moment. Behind them, other cars honked, angry at the delay. The light had turned green. 

The man leaned forward slightly, and when he spoke, every word was deliberate and clear. "Tell Rachel Santos to keep her mouth shut, or her sister pays the price."