Chapter 3: The Man We Buried Three Years Ago
Nobody moved.
The Miami terminal was full of people, rolling suitcases, announcements, and children crying.
Yet all I could hear was the echo of Michael's words.
“Your father isn't the only person you thought was dead.””
Tyler grabbed Michael's jacket.
“What do you know about my father?””
Michael didn't fight him.
He simply looked down at Tyler's hand.
“Let go.””
“Answer me!””
“Your father is alive, Tyler.””
Tyler released him as if he'd touched something burning.
“No. That's impossible.””
I remembered Robert Carter's funeral.
The closed casket.
The private service.
The black limousine that had carried the coffin to the cemetery.
I had stood beside Tyler while he cried into my shoulder.
We had placed white roses on the grave.
I had watched my husband visit that grave every Father's Day.
“How can you say that?”” I whispered.
Michael opened his folder again.
“Because I met him.””
Tyler shook his head.
“Who are you talking about?””
“Robert Carter. Three months ago. In Nassau.””
My husband staggered backward.
“That's a lie.””
Michael took out a photograph.
It showed an older man sitting at a restaurant table.
Silver hair.
Broad shoulders.
A familiar scar above his left eyebrow.
Robert.
Alive.
I recognized him immediately.
Tyler snatched the photograph.
“Where did you get this?””
“From a surveillance report connected to the financial investigation.””
“Why would you investigate my father?””
Michael looked toward Vanessa.
“Because your wife and my wife weren't the only people involved in this.””
Vanessa suddenly shouted.
“Michael, stop!””
He turned toward her.
“You've had enough chances.””
She looked at Tyler.
“Please. You need to understand. Your father promised me everything.””
Tyler stared at her.
“My father?””
Vanessa nodded, tears running down her cheeks.
“He told me he owned part of the cruise company. He said he could make me wealthy. He said all I needed to do was help him arrange a few things.””
Michael laughed without humor.
“A few things? You mean a fraudulent loan, false paternity documents, and an attempt to obtain guardianship over two infants?””
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“You don't know what he promised me.””
“I know what he paid you.””
Tyler looked between them.
“Paid her for what?””
Michael pulled out a bank statement.
“Your father transferred money into an account under Vanessa's maiden name. Several payments. The largest was forty-five thousand dollars.””
Tyler stared at the numbers.
“Why?””
Michael turned toward me.
“That's what I was trying to discover when I found the guardianship documents.””
I held Piper closer.
“Why are my daughters involved?””
He hesitated.
Then his attorney spoke.
“Mrs. Carter, the application lists a proposed emergency arrangement. If both biological parents were declared unavailable, your children would be placed temporarily with Vanessa.””
My stomach twisted.
“Unavailable how?””
The attorney glanced at Michael.
He answered instead.
“Your husband and his father had been discussing a plan involving the house, the insurance policies, and the children.””
Tyler looked horrified.
“I never agreed to anything involving my daughters!””
“Then perhaps you should explain why your father has been using your employment information.””
Tyler ran both hands through his hair.
“I haven't spoken to him in three years!””
I stepped closer.
“Tyler, did you know he was alive?””
“No!””
“Did you know about the loan?””
“No!””
“Did you know about the guardianship papers?””
He looked directly into my eyes.
“Emily, I swear on our daughters' lives, I didn't know.””
I wanted to believe him.
But every time he opened his mouth, another secret seemed to crawl out.
A security guard approached after noticing the commotion.
“Is everything all right here?””
Michael showed him his identification.
“We need to make a report. There may be an attempted child abduction.””
Vanessa immediately began shouting.
“This is ridiculous! Nobody is abducting anyone!””
Michael pointed toward her handbag.
“Then you won't mind explaining why you have two infant identification bracelets inside it.””
My heart stopped.
“What?””
Vanessa grabbed her handbag.
“Don't touch my things!””
Michael's attorney looked at her sharply.
“Two hospital identification bracelets were recovered from the apartment you shared with Mr. Carter.””
I looked at Tyler.
“What hospital?””
He shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Michael continued.
“They belong to two newborn girls. The hospital records indicate that both bracelets were issued eight months ago.””
Tyler looked at Vanessa.
“Were those for your baby?””
She said nothing.
“Vanessa, answer me!””
She started crying harder.
Then, almost inaudibly, she whispered:
“One of them was yours.””
The entire world seemed to tilt.
Tyler stared at her.
“What?””
Vanessa wiped her face.
“I was pregnant before I met Michael. I told you about the baby.””
“No, you didn't.””
“I did!””
“When?””
“On the ship!””
Tyler shook his head.
“You told me you were having a medical emergency. You never said you were pregnant.””
Vanessa looked at Michael.
“He wasn't supposed to find out.””
Michael's expression was stone.
“Which is why I hired an investigator.””
I looked at the birth certificate again.
The date was eight months earlier.
If the child was Tyler's, then my husband had fathered a baby before our twins were born.
But something didn't make sense.
“Michael,” I said, “you told me Vanessa gave birth while you were overseas.””
“Yes.””
“Then why does the certificate list Tyler as the father?””
Michael opened another envelope.
“Because the original hospital record lists a different name.””
He placed a photocopy on the folder.
The father's name had been blacked out on the copy.
Below it was a handwritten amendment request.
I leaned closer.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Linda Carter.
My mother-in-law.
I looked at Tyler.
“Your mother changed the father's name?””
He stared at the document.
“Why would she do that?””
Michael's attorney spoke carefully.
“That's the question we're trying to answer. The hospital has confirmed that the amendment was requested by someone claiming to be the child's paternal grandmother.””
Tyler shook his head.
“My mother said she had never met Vanessa.””
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
“Your mother introduced us.””
He turned toward her.
“What?””
“She brought me onto the ship during one of your port visits. She told me you were unhappy in your marriage. She said you deserved someone who understood your lifestyle.””
I felt my chest tighten.
My mother-in-law.
The woman who had held my hand during labor.
The woman who had promised to help me with the twins.
The woman who had told me to surprise Tyler.
I looked down at the authorization again.
Her signature was there.
Clear as day.
Then my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
One message.
*EMILY, TAKE THE GIRLS AND LEAVE THE TERMINAL IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT TRUST MICHAEL. DO NOT TRUST TYLER.*
A second message appeared.
*YOUR FATHER-IN-LAW IS NOT THE MAN YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF.*
I looked up.
Across the terminal, a man in a gray baseball cap was standing beside the exit.
He was holding a photograph.
I couldn't make out the details from where I stood.
Then he lifted it.
My breath caught.
It was a photograph of Piper and Poppy.
Taken inside my nursery.
Taken three days earlier.
Someone had been inside my house.
Someone had photographed my daughters while I was sleeping.
I backed away.
“Michael?””
He turned.
“What happened?””
I showed him my phone.
His expression changed immediately.
He looked toward the man in the gray cap.
Then he whispered something that made my blood run cold.
“That's impossible.””
“What?””
Michael slowly reached into his jacket and removed another photograph.
It showed the same man.
But this time, he was standing beside Robert Carter.
The date printed on the back was from the previous week.
Michael looked directly at me.
“Emily, that's not your father-in-law.””
I stared at the man near the exit.
Michael swallowed.
May you like
“That's the man who was supposed to be investigating him.””
And suddenly, the man in the gray cap began walking toward us.
