Chapter 2
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Rain tapped against the windows.
Wine dripped from the overturned table.
Lily was still wrapped in my coat on the couch behind me.
And my husband was standing five feet away while his mother held paperwork designed to take my daughter from me.
I looked at Ryan.
“Emergency custody?”
“Emily, listen—”
“No.”
I stepped backward.
“You filed for emergency custody before I left town?”
“It isn’t what you think.”
I laughed once.
The sound came out broken.
“What exactly am I supposed to think?”
Patricia answered for him.
“That Ryan finally decided to protect his daughter.”
I turned toward her.
“From me?”
“From your instability.”
My cheek was still burning where she had slapped me.
I pointed at Lily.
“She was outside barefoot in the rain because of you.”
Patricia folded her arms.
“She was outside for ten minutes.”
“Liar,” Lily whispered.
Everyone heard her.
Patricia’s face changed.
I walked to my daughter and crouched beside her.
“How long were you outside, sweetheart?”
Lily sniffled.
“It was light outside.”
My heart stopped.
It was almost eight o’clock.
The sun had disappeared more than an hour ago.
Ryan looked at his mother.
“Mom?”
Patricia rolled her eyes.
“Children have no sense of time.”
The blonde woman pushed back her chair.
“I should leave.”
“No,” I said.
She froze.
I looked directly at her.
“What’s your name?”
She hesitated.
“Claire.”
“How long have you been seeing my husband, Claire?”
Ryan stepped between us.
“This isn’t her fault.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
Claire swallowed.
“Six months.”
The room tilted.
Six months.
Six months of Ryan kissing me before work.
Six months of family breakfasts.
Six months of him telling Lily that Mommy and Daddy loved each other.
Six months of lies.
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“He told me you were separated.”
I stared at her.
“We slept in the same bed last night.”
Her face went white.
Ryan muttered, “Emily.”
Claire looked at him.
“You said she moved into the guest room.”
“She was supposed to.”
“Supposed to?”
Claire backed away from him.
“Ryan, what does that mean?”
Patricia snapped, “This conversation is unnecessary.”
Claire turned on her.
“You told me they were divorcing too.”
Patricia’s silence answered her.
I felt something shift.
Claire wasn’t smiling anymore.
She wasn’t defending Ryan.
She looked terrified.
I glanced at the folder.
“Give me that.”
Patricia pulled it toward her chest.
“No.”
“It has my name on it.”
“It’s Ryan’s legal property.”
I stepped closer.
“Give it to me.”
Ryan grabbed the folder from his mother.
“Everybody needs to calm down.”
I reached for it.
He pulled it away.
That was when I saw the pages beneath the petition.
Photographs.
Printed emails.
Medical records.
I froze.
“What is that?”
Ryan closed the folder.
“Nothing.”
“Open it.”
“Emily—”
“Open the folder.”
Lily began crying again.
“Mommy.”
I immediately turned.
That tiny voice mattered more than every secret in the room.
I picked her up.
She pressed her freezing feet against my stomach.
She was still shaking.
I touched her forehead.
Cold.
Too cold.
“We’re leaving.”
Ryan blocked the hallway.
“You can’t take Lily.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The petition is already filed.”
“And?”
“My lawyer told me not to let you remove her from the residence.”
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You left our daughter outside while you ate steak with your girlfriend, and now you’re telling me I can’t take her somewhere safe?”
“I didn’t know Mom put her outside.”
Patricia gasped.
“Ryan.”
He ignored her.
“I thought Lily was upstairs.”
I stared at him.
“You never checked?”
His face tightened.
Claire spoke quietly.
“She asked for food.”
Everybody looked at her.
Claire’s hands were trembling.
“What did you say?”
I asked.
Claire glanced at Patricia.
“When I arrived, Lily came downstairs. She said she was hungry.”
My arms tightened around my daughter.
“And?”
“Patricia told her dinner was for adults.”
Patricia scoffed.
“That is ridiculous.”
Claire kept going.
“Lily reached for a dinner roll. Patricia took it away.”
Ryan’s face changed.
“Claire.”
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“You lied to me for six months. I’m done protecting you.”
She looked at me.
“Lily started crying. Patricia told her to stop. Then she took her toward the foyer.”
“You saw her take my daughter?”
“I thought she was putting her in her bedroom.”
I looked toward the front door.
“You watched Patricia take a crying three-year-old away and never wondered where she went?”
Claire flinched.
“I should have.”
“Yes.”
I didn’t soften it.
“You should have.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“Emily, Lily stays here.”
I reached into my purse.
He tensed.
I pulled out my phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Patricia laughed.
“For what?”
I looked directly at her.
“Child endangerment.”
The confidence disappeared from her face.
Ryan lowered his voice.
“Don’t do this.”
I dialed.
He reached for my phone.
Claire stepped between us.
“Don’t touch her.”
Ryan stared at Claire like she had betrayed him.
“You need to leave.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice shook, but she stayed there.
“I’m staying until the police arrive.”
I gave the dispatcher my address.
I explained that I had found my three-year-old daughter outside barefoot during a storm.
I explained that Patricia had assaulted me.
I explained that there was an active custody dispute I had only just discovered.
The dispatcher told me officers were on the way.
Patricia immediately started cleaning the floor.
I couldn’t believe it.
“What are you doing?”
“Cleaning my house.”
“This is my house.”
She looked at me with a strange smile.
“Not for much longer.”
My stomach tightened.
Ryan shut his eyes.
“Mom, stop.”
I stared at him.
“What did she mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Ryan.”
He wouldn’t look at me.
I carried Lily toward the staircase.
Ryan followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To get her dry clothes.”
“I told you she can’t leave.”
I spun around.
“If you block me again, I will scream loud enough for every neighbor on this street to hear exactly what you did tonight.”
He stopped.
I went upstairs.
Lily’s bedroom door was closed.
I opened it.
And immediately knew something was wrong.
Half her clothes were missing.
Her favorite stuffed elephant was gone.
The bookshelf had been emptied.
Her framed photographs were missing from the wall.
I put her down and opened the closet.
Nearly everything was packed.
Two pink suitcases sat behind the door.
My chest tightened.
“Ryan!”
He appeared in the hallway.
I pointed toward the suitcases.
“What is this?”
His face said everything before his mouth did.
“We were going to discuss it.”
“Discuss what?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Mom found a preschool near her house.”
I stared at him.
Patricia lived three hours away.
“You were moving Lily?”
“Temporarily.”
“Without telling me?”
“Until the custody hearing.”
My lungs stopped working.
“You planned to send my daughter three hours away while I was traveling?”
He stepped inside.
“The emergency petition asks the judge to restrict your contact until you complete an evaluation.”
“What evaluation?”
“A psychological evaluation.”
I almost laughed again.
Then I remembered the documents.
The medical records.
The photographs.
“What did you put in that petition?”
Ryan said nothing.
I shoved past him.
I carried Lily downstairs.
The first police car was pulling into the driveway.
Patricia immediately changed.
Her voice softened.
Her shoulders drooped.
She became an elderly grandmother caught in the middle of a terrible family argument.
It was impressive.
It was also horrifying.
Two officers entered.
One spoke with me.
The other separated Ryan and Patricia.
Claire volunteered to give a statement.
That saved me.
Because Patricia lied.
She claimed Lily had wandered outside.
Claire contradicted her.
She told the officer Patricia intentionally took Lily outside after she cried during dinner.
Then the officer asked about my cheek.
I told him Patricia had slapped me.
Patricia denied it.
Claire confirmed that too.
Ryan stood there watching his entire plan unravel.
Then an officer asked the question that changed everything.
“Mr. Carter, do you have a copy of the custody order?”
Ryan nodded toward the folder.
“There isn’t an order yet. Just a petition.”
The officer looked at him.
“So there is currently no court order restricting Mrs. Carter from leaving with the child?”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
The officer turned to me.
“You’re free to take your daughter somewhere safe tonight.”
I nearly cried.
Ryan stepped forward.
“She can’t just disappear with her.”
The officer raised a hand.
“She isn’t disappearing. You know who she is and how to contact her.”
I collected Lily’s bags.
Claire quietly handed me something as I passed her.
A business card.
On the back she had written a phone number.
“Call me,” she whispered.
“I have things you need to see.”
Ryan heard her.
His face went pale.
“Claire.”
She looked straight at him.
“You should have told me the truth.”
Then I left the house with Lily in my arms.
I drove to my sister Hannah’s apartment forty minutes away.
Lily fell asleep before we reached the highway.
At a red light, my phone buzzed.
Ryan.
I ignored it.
Then Patricia.
Ignored.
Then an unknown number.
I almost ignored that too.
But the message preview stopped me.
It was Claire.
Emily, I’m sorry. Ryan gave me copies of some of the evidence he planned to use against you.
There’s something you need to know.
May you like
Some of it is fake.
And I think Patricia made it.
