rise of the underdog

moment of Truth

# Chapter 5: The Moment of Truth

The penthouse smelled like jasmine rice and lemongrass when Victoria stepped through the front door at 7:43 PM. For a moment, standing in the marble foyer with her heels clicking against stone that cost more per square foot than most people's cars, she felt like she was stepping back in time.

Back to when coming home meant warmth instead of guilt, when the sight of Alex in the kitchen meant comfort instead of complicated emotions she couldn't name.

"Perfect timing," Alex called from the dining room, his voice carrying that gentle warmth she'd somehow forgotten how to appreciate. "I was just plating everything."

Victoria set down her purse and walked toward the sound of his voice, her steps slower than usual. The dining room table was set for two with their wedding china—the Waterford crystal they'd registered for but never used because it seemed too precious for ordinary nights.

Tonight, apparently, wasn't ordinary.

Alex emerged from the kitchen carrying two plates, and Victoria's breath caught. He'd changed from his work clothes into dark jeans and a navy cashmere sweater that she'd bought him for Christmas two years ago. Simple, understated, but the way it fit his shoulders reminded her why she'd been attracted to him in the first place.

When had she stopped noticing how handsome her husband was?

"You used the good china," she said, her voice smaller than intended.

"You said you wanted to talk." Alex set the plates down, and she saw he'd remembered everything—her pad thai with extra lime, the spring rolls she always stole from his plate, even the specific brand of Thai iced tea she preferred. "I thought we should do it properly."

Victoria felt something crack inside her chest. When was the last time someone had paid attention to details like that? David bought her expensive things—jewelry, flowers, champagne—but Alex remembered that she liked her curry medium spicy and her spring rolls crispy.

"Alex, I—"

"Sit," he said gently, pulling out her chair. "Eat first. Talk after. You look like you've had a difficult day."

She had. The hotel room, David's panic, the realization that the man she'd been having an affair with might be a criminal—it all felt like a fever dream now, surreal and tainted. But Alex was here, solid and real and offering her exactly what she needed without her having to ask for it.

They ate in comfortable silence at first, the kind of quiet that had once felt natural between them. Victoria found herself watching Alex's face in the candlelight, looking for signs of suspicion or anger or hurt. But his expression was simply attentive, patient in that way that had initially drawn her to him.

"This is good," she said finally. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Alex refilled her wine glass with a Sancerre that probably cost more than she realized—though she'd never asked about his wine collection or wondered how he'd developed such expensive tastes on a marketing coordinator's salary. "How was your day? You seemed stressed when you called."

The question was casual, concerned, without a trace of interrogation. It would be so easy to lie again, to manufacture some story about difficult clients or workplace drama. The old Victoria—the woman who'd been lying to her husband for months—would have done exactly that.

But sitting here, looking at Alex's genuinely caring expression while guilt ate at her from the inside, Victoria found she couldn't do it anymore.

"Alex," she said quietly, setting down her fork. "I need to tell you something."

Something flickered in his eyes—so briefly she almost missed it. "Okay."

"I haven't been honest with you. About work, about... about a lot of things."

Alex leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. "I'm listening."

Victoria's hands trembled as she reached for her wine glass. This was it—the moment she either saved her marriage or destroyed it completely. But after today, after watching David abandon her the moment his perfect life started cracking, she knew she couldn't keep living a lie.

"The job at Morrison Holdings isn't just about marketing," she began. "And David Morrison isn't just my supervisor."

"I see." Alex's voice was calm, neutral. "What is he?"

"I've been... we've been..." The words stuck in her throat, three years of marriage colliding with three months of betrayal. "Alex, I've been having an affair."

The silence that followed felt like falling through ice—shocking, complete, and utterly final. Victoria watched her husband's face, waiting for anger, for hurt, for some explosion of emotion that would match the magnitude of what she'd just confessed.

Instead, Alex simply nodded.

"I know," he said quietly.

Victoria's wine glass slipped from her fingers, shattering against the marble floor in a spray of crystal and pale yellow liquid.

"You... what?"

"I know about David Morrison. I know about the Carlisle Hotel, the jewelry he's been buying you, the lie about working late." Alex's voice remained gentle, but there was something underneath it now—something that made Victoria's skin prickle with sudden fear. "I've known for weeks, Victoria."

"You've known?" The words came out as a whisper. "And you didn't... you never said..."

"What was I supposed to say?" Alex stood and moved to the kitchen, returning with paper towels to clean up the spilled wine. "That my wife was lying to me? That she was sleeping with another man? That she'd rather spend fifteen thousand dollars on a watch for her lover than acknowledge her husband's existence?"

Victoria felt the blood drain from her face. "How do you—"

"Know about the watch? The credit card statements come to this address, Victoria. The same address where I pay the mortgage, the utilities, the property taxes." Alex knelt to pick up the larger pieces of crystal, his movements precise and controlled. "Did you think I wouldn't notice a fifteen-thousand-dollar charge at Tiffany's when you haven't bought me so much as a birthday card in eight months?"

Each word landed like a physical blow. Victoria had been so careful, so strategic about hiding her affair, but she'd never considered that Alex might be paying attention to things like credit card statements and spending patterns.

"Why didn't you confront me?" she asked.

Alex straightened, holding the broken crystal in his hands. "Because I hoped you would choose to tell me the truth on your own. Because I loved you enough to give you the chance to save our marriage."

"Loved?" The past tense hit her like a slap. "Alex, I—"

"Do you love him?"

The question was simple, direct, and utterly devastating in its quiet delivery. Victoria opened her mouth to answer and found she didn't know what to say.

Three months ago, she would have said yes without hesitation. David was everything she'd thought she wanted—successful, wealthy, passionate, exciting. But after today, after watching him panic and flee the moment his perfect life started unraveling, she wasn't sure what she felt anymore.

"I thought I did," she said finally.

"And now?"

"Now I don't know anything." Victoria stood abruptly, pacing to the window that overlooked the city. "Alex, David's company is in trouble. Some kind of federal investigation, fraud allegations. This afternoon he just... he abandoned me the moment things got complicated."

"Mmm." Alex's response was noncommittal, but Victoria caught something in his tone that made her turn around.

"You don't seem surprised."

"Should I be? A man who would pursue another man's wife isn't exactly someone you'd expect to stand by you when things get difficult."

There was truth in that, brutal and unavoidable. But there was also something else in Alex's voice, something that made Victoria study his face more carefully.

"The timing is strange, though," she said slowly. "Just when David was talking about... about us having a future together, his whole world falls apart."

"Karma has interesting timing sometimes."

Victoria stared at her husband—really stared at him—for the first time in months. The patient expression, the gentle demeanor, the way he'd handled her confession with supernatural calm. None of it felt quite right anymore.

"Alex, who are you?"

"I'm your husband. The man you married three years ago."

"No." Victoria shook her head, certainty growing in her chest. "The man I married would have been devastated by what I just told you. He would have cried, or shouted, or... something. He wouldn't have just calmly cleaned up broken glass while discussing my affair like we were talking about the weather."

Alex smiled, and for the first time, Victoria saw something predatory in the expression.

"You're right," he said. "The man you married was deeply in love with a woman he thought loved him back. But that man learned some hard truths over the past few months."

"What kind of truths?"

"That love without respect is just elaborate self-deception. That patience without boundaries is just enabling. And that sometimes the people we love most are the ones most capable of destroying us."

Victoria felt a chill run down her spine. This wasn't the Alex she knew—the accommodating husband who accepted her family's abuse and never questioned her lies. This was someone else entirely, someone who spoke with quiet authority and looked at her like she was a problem to be solved rather than a wife to be cherished.

"The investigation into Morrison Holdings," she said suddenly. "You know something about it."

"I know David Morrison Jr. has been filing fraudulent insurance claims to cover shipping losses. I know he's settled three sexual harassment lawsuits in the past five years. I know his father's company is leveraged to the breaking point and one major scandal could destroy them."

"How could you possibly know all that?"

Alex moved to the sideboard and poured himself two fingers of scotch—Macallan 25, she noticed, another expensive taste she'd never questioned.

"Because I made it my business to know," he said simply.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I stopped being the man you married, Victoria. I stopped accepting scraps of affection from someone who saw me as a placeholder until something better came along. I stopped pretending that love was enough to sustain a marriage where only one person was actually invested in it working."

Victoria felt the room spinning around her. "Alex, I don't understand—"

"Then let me make it simple." Alex set down his glass and looked at her with eyes that were suddenly, terrifyingly clear. "You wanted David Morrison because you thought he was successful, wealthy, powerful—everything you assumed I wasn't. You were wrong about what I am, but you were absolutely right about what you wanted."

"I wanted you," Victoria said desperately. "I married you because I loved you."

"You married me because you thought you could shape me into what you wanted. When that didn't work, you found someone who already fit the mold." Alex's smile was sharp as broken glass. "The irony is that you got exactly what you thought you wanted—and you're about to discover what it actually costs."

"What are you talking about?"

Alex pulled out his phone and showed her the screen. Morrison Holdings stock chart—down thirty-seven percent in a single day.

"David Morrison's net worth dropped by sixty million dollars this afternoon," he said conversationally. "By tomorrow, when the SEC freezes the company's assets pending investigation, he'll be lucky if he has enough liquid capital to pay his lawyers."

Victoria stared at the screen, pieces clicking together in her mind like a nightmare puzzle.

"You did this. You destroyed his company."

"I exposed the truth about his company. There's a difference." Alex pocketed his phone. "Though I admit the timing was somewhat... strategic."

"Why?" The word came out as a whisper. "Why would you do something like that?"

Alex studied her face for a long moment, and Victoria saw something that looked almost like pity in his expression.

"Because you needed to learn what David Morrison really was before you threw your life away on him. Because I loved you enough to save you from a man who would have used you and discarded you the moment someone more useful came along." He paused. "And because I needed to know if you would choose me when I stopped making it easy for you to choose him."

"Alex, I—"

"The question now is what you're going to do with that information." Alex moved toward the hallway, stopping at the threshold. "David Morrison's world is collapsing, Victoria. His company will be gone within a week, his reputation destroyed, his family's fortune tied up in legal battles for years. The man you thought you loved is about to become exactly what you always assumed I was—powerless, struggling, dependent on others for survival."

He looked back at her one last time, and Victoria saw the man she'd married buried somewhere in his expression—hurt, disappointed, but still capable of love.

"So here's your choice," he said quietly. "You can run to David and try to save him from the consequences of his own actions. Support him through the legal battles, stand by him while he loses everything, prove that you love him enough to weather any storm."

"Or?"

"Or you can stay here and try to save our marriage. Prove that what we had was worth fighting for, that the woman I fell in love with is still somewhere underneath all the lies and betrayal."

Victoria felt tears running down her cheeks without realizing she'd started crying.

"And if I choose David?"

Alex's smile was sad and final as a closing door.

"Then you'll discover that I'm not the man you married either. And the consequences of that discovery will make David Morrison's problems look like a minor inconvenience."

He walked away, leaving Victoria alone in the dining room with the ruins of their perfect dinner and the weight of an impossible choice.

Outside the windows, Manhattan glittered with a million lights—each one representing someone else's dreams, ambitions, and carefully constructed lies.

But in the penthouse apartment that Victoria had never realized her husband owned outright, she was finally beginning to understand that some lies were more dangerous than others.

And some truths changed everything.