Chapter 3
I thought I had reached the limit of what my brain could process.
I was wrong.
I stared at Rebecca on the tablet.
Behind her was a bright kitchen with white cabinets and huge windows.
She looked nothing like Patricia.
Patricia had dark hair and sharp features.
Rebecca had Daniel’s eyes.
I suddenly hated that I noticed.
Daniel grabbed the edge of the dresser.
“Mom, hang up.”
Mom.
He said it naturally.
Not Rebecca.
Not ma’am.
Mom.
My stomach dropped.
I turned toward him.
“You know her.”
He said nothing.
“You KNOW her.”
Rebecca’s voice came through the tablet.
“He’s known me his entire life.”
Rachel muttered, “What kind of family is this?”
For once, I agreed with her.
I moved closer to the screen.
“Why have I never met you?”
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
“Because my son is a coward.”
Daniel snapped, “You don’t get to say that.”
“I absolutely do.”
“You abandoned me.”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“That is the story Patricia told you.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“It’s the truth.”
“No. It isn’t.”
I raised my hand.
“Stop.”
Both of them went silent.
I was done being the only person in the room who didn’t know what was happening.
“Rebecca, explain.”
She took a breath.
“I was nineteen when Daniel was born.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Don’t.”
Rebecca continued.
“His father was married.”
I looked at Daniel.
He stared at the floor.
“I didn’t know until I was pregnant. When his wife found out, she offered me money to disappear.”
“Patricia?” I asked.
Rebecca nodded.
My skin prickled.
“She couldn’t have children. She told me Daniel would have a better life with them.”
Daniel laughed.
“You signed me away.”
“I was nineteen.”
“You still signed.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s voice cracked.
“And I have regretted it every day since.”
I glanced toward Emma.
She had moved closer to my leg.
I didn’t want her hearing this.
I handed Rachel the tablet for a moment and picked Emma up.
“Come on, baby.”
“Where?”
“Your room.”
“Are you mad at Daddy?”
I carried her down the hall.
“I’m upset about grown-up things.”
“Is Daddy in trouble?”
I stopped.
I looked at her little face.
Children knew more than adults thought.
“Yes,” I said softly. “Daddy made some bad choices.”
“Is he going away?”
My heart tightened.
“I don’t know.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
I held her close.
“But you have me. Always.”
I put on her favorite movie, gave her headphones, and told her to stay in her room.
Then I returned.
Rachel was dressed now.
She had pulled on jeans and a sweater.
The red heels were still downstairs.
Daniel was pacing.
Rebecca was still on the call.
I picked up the tablet.
“Why are you calling today?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Because Daniel asked for money.”
Of course he did.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
Rachel’s mouth opened.
I stared at my husband.
“For what?”
Daniel glared at Rebecca.
“I told you not to bring that up.”
Rebecca’s voice hardened.
“You stopped having the right to tell me what to do when you tried to steal from your wife.”
My eyes narrowed.
“How did you know?”
Rebecca looked surprised.
“Because he asked me to help cover what he took.”
I turned to Daniel.
“Fifty thousand?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No.”
My stomach sank.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and forty thousand.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Daniel.
“We don’t have two hundred and forty thousand.”
Rebecca answered carefully.
“You did.”
My mouth went dry.
I thought of our house.
Our savings.
My retirement.
The education account.
Then I remembered the home equity line we opened two years ago when we renovated the kitchen.
We had never used it.
I ran downstairs.
Daniel followed.
“Sarah.”
I ignored him.
I went into the home office and opened the locked cabinet.
The folder was gone.
“Where are the HELOC documents?”
He didn’t answer.
I spun around.
“DANIEL.”
He flinched.
“I borrowed against the house.”
My vision blurred.
“How much?”
“Sarah—”
“How much?”
“One hundred and thirty.”
My legs went weak.
He reached for me.
I stepped back.
“Don’t touch me.”
“It was supposed to come back.”
“From what?”
“The restaurant.”
Rachel appeared in the doorway.
“My brother’s restaurant cost nowhere near that much.”
Daniel snapped, “It wasn’t only the restaurant.”
I laughed.
“Then what else?”
He pressed his palms against his eyes.
“Crypto.”
Rachel actually cursed.
I stared at him.
“You borrowed against our home for cryptocurrency?”
“It was doing well.”
“You risked Emma’s home?”
“I was going to double it.”
“And did you?”
His silence answered me.
Rebecca said through the tablet, “He lost most of it.”
I looked at the screen.
“How do you know?”
“He came to me in May.”
May.
Four months ago.
He had told me he was going to Kentucky for a conference.
Instead, he was with his biological mother begging for money.
I wanted to throw something.
Instead, I sat down.
Because suddenly I realized this was bigger than cheating.
Bigger than Rachel.
Bigger than a second child.
My entire financial life might be collapsing.
I opened my laptop.
Daniel moved closer.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding out what else you’ve done.”
“You’re going to make this worse.”
I looked at him.
“That sentence doesn’t work anymore.”
I logged into our mortgage account.
The balance made my chest hurt.
Then I checked our credit.
A personal loan appeared under both our names.
$38,000.
I had never applied for it.
I stared at the screen.
“No.”
Daniel went silent.
I clicked.
The application showed my electronic signature.
But I had never signed it.
Rachel whispered, “Oh my God.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You forged my signature.”
“It was electronic.”
“That’s still fraud.”
“I knew you’d say no.”
“So you committed fraud because you knew I’d say no?”
He started pacing.
“You don’t understand the pressure I was under.”
“What pressure?”
“I was trying to keep everything together!”
“What exactly were you keeping together?”
He stopped.
And then I saw it.
Fear.
Not embarrassment.
Not shame.
Fear.
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
I stood.
“What else, Daniel?”
“Nothing.”
Rebecca’s voice cut in.
“Tell her about Marcus.”
Daniel whipped around.
“SHUT UP!”
Emma shouted from upstairs.
“Mommy?”
I froze.
I hated him for making our home sound like this.
I lowered my voice.
“Who is Marcus?”
Daniel looked at Rebecca with pure anger.
She looked back without blinking.
“A man Daniel owes money to.”
Rachel frowned.
“How much?”
Rebecca said, “I don’t know.”
Daniel muttered, “It’s handled.”
I stepped toward him.
“How much?”
He looked away.
I grabbed his arm.
“How much?”
“Sixty.”
“Sixty thousand?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of man lends you sixty thousand?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Rebecca did.
“The kind you don’t borrow money from.”
My skin went cold.
Rachel hugged herself.
“Daniel, what did you do?”
He snapped at her.
“I did it because your brother’s restaurant was failing.”
Rachel stared at him.
“My brother never asked you for that.”
“He didn’t have to.”
“He didn’t even know you were married!”
Daniel pointed at her.
“You wanted me to prove I cared.”
“I wanted you to tell the truth!”
They started shouting.
I walked away.
Something had changed inside me.
An hour earlier, I wanted answers.
Now I wanted protection.
For Emma.
For myself.
Maybe even for Lily.
I pulled out my phone and called my older brother, Michael.
He answered on the second ring.
“Hey, traveler.”
“Michael.”
He heard my voice.
“What happened?”
“I need you to come here.”
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
His tone changed immediately.
“Is Emma okay?”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel hurt you?”
“No.”
Not physically.
But somehow that answer felt incomplete.
“I’m leaving now.”
Michael lived forty minutes away.
“I need you to bring your laptop.”
“Why?”
“I think Daniel stole money from me.”
Silence.
Then Michael said, “Don’t touch anything. Don’t delete anything. Screenshot every account.”
Daniel heard him through the speaker.
“Sarah, you don’t need to bring your family into this.”
Michael shouted through the phone.
“Put Daniel on.”
“No.”
“Sarah.”
“I said no.”
I ended the call.
Daniel stared at me.
“You’re turning this into a disaster.”
I looked around our beautiful kitchen.
The kitchen I thought we owned.
The house I thought was safe.
The husband I thought I knew.
“You turned it into a disaster years ago.”
Then the doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
Daniel looked toward the front door.
He suddenly looked terrified.
Rachel whispered, “Are you expecting someone?”
“No.”
The bell rang again.
Then three hard knocks.
Daniel moved toward the window.
I caught his wrist.
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked through the curtain.
His face went white.
That told me he knew.
I stepped toward the window.
He blocked me.
“Sarah, take Emma upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
That was the first thing he had said all day that sounded genuinely scared.
The knocking became louder.
A man’s voice came through the door.
“Daniel!”
Rachel whispered, “Marcus?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
I grabbed the tablet.
Rebecca looked pale.
“Do not open that door.”
The man pounded again.
“Daniel, I know you’re in there!”
I immediately went upstairs.
Emma took off her headphones when I entered.
“Mommy?”
“We’re going to play a game.”
“What game?”
“The quiet game.”
I helped her put on her shoes and coat.
Then I grabbed her small backpack.
My passport.
Her birth certificate.
Medication.
Anything important I could reach quickly.
Downstairs, Daniel was whispering fiercely with Rachel.
The knocking stopped.
For three seconds.
Then I heard glass break.
Rachel screamed.
I ran downstairs.
A rock had come through the narrow window beside the front door.
Wrapped around it was a piece of paper.
Daniel stared at it.
I picked it up.
Three words were written in thick black marker.
MIDNIGHT.
FULL AMOUNT.
NO EXCUSES.
Underneath was an address.
I recognized it.
It was our daughter’s elementary school.
I looked at Daniel.
All the rage in my body became something colder.
“You gave him Emma’s school?”
“No.”
“He knows where she goes.”
“I never told him.”
“Then how does he know?”
“I don’t know.”
I stepped closer.
“If anyone comes near my daughter because of something you did, I will make sure you never see her again.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with panic.
“Sarah, I can fix this.”
I looked at the broken glass on the floor.
“No.”
Then I looked at Rachel.
“Do you have Lily with you?”
She shook her head.
“She’s with my sister.”
“Call her.”
“Why?”
“Tell her not to take Lily home.”
Rachel’s face changed.
She understood.
She grabbed her phone.
At that moment, tires screeched outside.
A black SUV pulled into the driveway.
Daniel backed away from the window.
But the driver wasn’t Marcus.
My brother Michael stepped out.
And he wasn’t alone.
A woman climbed out of the passenger seat carrying a leather briefcase.
I recognized her.
Vanessa Reed.
Michael’s best friend from law school.
A divorce attorney.
Daniel looked at me.
“What did you do?”
I stared straight back at him.
“For the first time today?”
May you like
I opened the front door.
“I protected myself.”
