On the Night of the Wedding, I Read a Message in My Husband’s Car, and the Smile Immediately Disappeared from His Mother’s Face

On the night of the wedding, I was sitting in Marcus’s car when his mother’s message on his phone screen revealed something that made my breath catch.

I rested my head against the leather seat of the Audi and could smell the bouquet of white roses. A few minutes earlier, I had married the man I thought I would love all my life. Marcus had gone into the pharmacy, leaving the car running. A message quietly lit up on the dashboard.

Veronica: “Did he sign the property papers? The main thing is that he must not read the fine print.”

My fingers went cold.

The next message arrived immediately.

“On Monday, as soon as it is announced, the apartment in the city center and the trust he manages will pass under your control. The plan is unchanged. You will endure one year, then demand a divorce. You will say that you managed the property, and we will transfer everything to my account. Only his father, that supposedly proud engineer, must not find out.”

I stared at the dashboard as if I were reading words written in a foreign language. Then I remembered the previous evening. Before the wedding, while the guests were moving around the hall, Marcus handed me a thick folder.

“It is just a formality, Nina,” he told me and kissed me on the cheek. “It will make managing the property easier and reduce the taxes too.”

“Do I have to sign now?”

“If you trust me, yes.”

I trusted him. On the last page, I signed without even looking at the text.

A third message appeared on the screen.

“She is very obedient and easy to control. She truly believes that you love her. The daughter of a simple engineer will be able to do nothing against us. We will leave her with nothing.”

My eyes filled, but these tears were not from sorrow. They were from disgust.

Veronica thought that my father was a tired engineer from a small company. Marcus thought that I owned only a small inheritance that would be easy to drain. They did not know that my father owned a controlling share in the state’s largest defense enterprise. They also did not know that my trust was only bait.

But I still did not know what was written in the papers I had signed.

I took my phone out of my bag and photographed the dashboard screen. Then I took another one. My hands were trembling, but I did not stop the camera.

The folder was in my bag. A small object that I had carried with me all evening scratched my fingers—the ivory-colored metal bookmark my father had given me, with a small compass engraved on it. He had told me that when I could not find the way, it would remind me of the direction.

The folder now seemed to be heating up.

Through the windshield, I saw Marcus come out of the pharmacy. He was holding a bag and smiling, as if this night were still the beginning of our happiness.

I disconnected the phone from the system and placed his device on the console, screen facing up. I looked at myself in the mirror. The woman dressed in the white dress was still me, but the trust I had had a few minutes earlier no longer existed.

I called my father.

“Nina?” His sleepy voice immediately became alert. “What happened?”

“Wake the lawyers, Dad. The wedding night will be longer than we thought.”

Marcus approached the car and reached for the driver’s door handle. And I took the compass bookmark out of my bag and reached toward the folder’s lock…

Marcus opened the door and immediately looked at me.

“Why are you so pale?”

“I am tired,” I said and forced a smile. “Everything is fine.”

He put the bag on the back seat. He saw his phone on the console and hesitated for a moment.

“Why did you touch it?”

“A message came. The screen lit up.”

“It must be my mother. She always writes some nonsense.”

“Really?”

Marcus picked up the phone, but I put my hand on it.

“Let us go home first.”

His smile disappeared, though only for a moment. Then he came closer again and kissed me on the forehead.

“My wife should not be asking questions today.”

Those words frightened me more than the messages.

We drove in silence until we reached home. Veronica was waiting for us at the entrance, holding a champagne glass. She hugged me, but her perfume rose into my throat.

“The beginning of happiness, darling,” she whispered.

“Yes,” I answered. “The beginning.”

I went upstairs to the room, locked the door, and put the folder on the bed. I slid the compass bookmark into the lock. Just then I heard Marcus’s voice from below:

“Veronica, she saw the phone screen.”

His mother answered:

“Then today we will find out how much she knows. But there is one thing they did not take into account…”

The voice stopped. Footsteps stopped outside the door. Then the handle slowly went down…

The door did not open. I had locked it all the way.

“Nina, open up,” Marcus said in a calm voice. “There is no need for drama.”

“Then tell me what I signed.”

Silence fell in the corridor. Then Veronica’s voice sounded.

“Darling, such a conversation is inappropriate on the wedding night.”

“What is inappropriate is that my husband and his mother are making plans about my property.”

Marcus struck the door with his fist.

“You read my phone?”

“It appeared on the screen. I also have photos.”

His breathing changed. For the first time I saw his face lose its confidence.

“Open the door, Nina.”

“No.”

I called my father. Five minutes later, his lawyer, Irakli, arrived downstairs. He held a dark green folder, whose corners gleamed with golden protective plates. When I opened the door, Irakli entered the room without even looking at Marcus.

“Nina, did you sign these papers?”

“Yes. The last page.”

Irakli exhaled.

“Then we have the answer to the main question.”

Veronica burst into the room.

“What right do you have to come in here?”

“The right that I am Nina’s legal representative,” Irakli answered. “And also the right that these papers cannot come into force.”

Marcus laughed, but the laughter was false.

“What are you saying? She signed.”

Irakli opened the green folder and placed one sheet on the table.

“She signed only a temporary power of management, which comes into force when the property owner herself confirms it. But here is the second page, which you removed.”

The glass slipped from Veronica’s hand. The glass shattered on the floor.

“This is impossible,” she whispered.

“No,” I said. “The only impossible thing was that you considered my signature permission.”

Irakli took out the next document.

“Nina is the sole manager of this fund. And the marriage agreement you made her sign does not ensure the transfer of property. It only records your attempt.”

Marcus moved toward me.

“Did you know who your father was?”

“You did not know who I was.”

“Was all of this a trap?”

“No. I simply wanted you to love me.”

His face became gray. Just then Irakli’s phone rang. He listened, his brows knitted, and turned toward me.

“Nina, the photos are only one part. Your father’s security service has just discovered that Marcus has already submitted a loan application in the name of your fund. Moreover, in the application he had digitally forged your signature.”

Marcus took a step back.

“That is a lie.”

Irakli placed the phone on the table.

“Then explain to us why you sent this application this evening, while the wedding guests were still in the hall…”