Chapter 3
Daniel closed the door behind him.
Rachel immediately stood.
“You need to leave.”
He ignored her.
His eyes stayed on me.
“Who are you talking to?”
I almost admired the question.
Not How are you?
Not Is the baby okay?
Who are you talking to?
I held up the phone.
“The bank.”
His face changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
“Why?”
“Because apparently I borrowed money against my house four months ago.”
Rachel whispered, “Oh my God.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Emily, let me explain.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I can explain this.”
“Then start.”
He glanced at Rachel.
“Not in front of her.”
Rachel laughed once.
“You got both of us pregnant and stole money from your wife, but suddenly privacy matters?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t steal anything.”
I looked at the monitor attached to my stomach.
My daughter’s heartbeat filled the room.
Steady.
Fast.
Alive.
It gave me strength.
“Did you sign my name?”
Daniel said nothing.
“Did you forge my signature?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“So yes.”
“No.”
“Then what was it like?”
He walked closer.
I pointed toward the door.
“Stay there.”
He stopped.
His voice softened.
“We needed money.”
“For what?”
“I was going to put it back.”
“For what?”
He looked down.
That frightened me more than if he had shouted.
Daniel had always been good with explanations.
He could talk his way out of anything.
If he couldn’t answer this one, it was bad.
“Daniel.”
He sighed.
“The business had problems.”
I stared at him.
“What business?”
“My consulting firm.”
“Your firm pays you a salary. You don’t own it.”
His expression tightened.
“I invested in a side project.”
“What project?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters when you use my signature.”
“Our signature.”
I almost climbed out of the bed.
Rachel stepped closer to me.
Daniel realized his mistake.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Emily, we’re married. The house belongs to both of us.”
“And that gives you permission to forge my name?”
“I was trying to protect us.”
“By stealing from us?”
“I didn’t steal.”
“You took one hundred seventeen thousand dollars.”
His eyes flicked toward Rachel.
She crossed her arms.
“Forty-eight thousand of that came to me.”
He snapped, “I know.”
I looked between them.
“You gave your mistress almost half the money you stole.”
“It wasn’t for her.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You told me it was for my apartment.”
“It was temporary.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“I needed money somewhere Emily wouldn’t see it.”
My stomach turned.
Rachel’s face went white.
“You used my account?”
“It was safe.”
“You used me to hide money?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Rachel grabbed her purse.
“I’m calling the police.”
Daniel lunged for her phone.
I screamed.
A nurse opened the door almost immediately.
“What’s happening?”
Rachel stepped back.
“He tried to take my phone.”
Daniel raised both hands.
“I wasn’t going to hurt anyone.”
The nurse’s expression hardened.
“You need to leave this room.”
“My wife is in here.”
“And your wife has asked you to leave.”
Security arrived within minutes.
Daniel looked at me as two guards approached him.
“Emily, please don’t do anything until we talk.”
I said nothing.
“Think about our daughter.”
That did it.
I stared straight at him.
“I am.”
Security escorted him out.
Rachel sank into the chair.
Her hands were trembling.
“Do you think he’s dangerous?”
I wanted to say no.
I wanted to defend the man who had slept beside me for seven years.
Instead I remembered how quickly he had reached for her phone.
“I don’t know him anymore.”
The doctor kept me overnight.
Rachel offered to stay, but I told her to go home.
She hesitated near the door.
“Can I give you my number?”
I almost said no.
Then I realized she might know things I didn’t.
“Yes.”
We exchanged numbers.
Before leaving, she turned back.
“Emily?”
“What?”
“I really didn’t know.”
I looked at her swollen eyes.
“I believe you.”
She nodded and left.
At 2:14 in the morning, I woke to a text.
Unknown number.
YOU NEED TO CHECK YOUR HUSBAND’S OFFICE BEFORE HE CLEANS IT OUT.
I sat up.
My pulse jumped.
I typed back.
Who is this?
No answer.
I called.
Disconnected number.
For the next hour, I stared at the message.
Daniel’s office was downtown.
He worked in a private suite on the twelfth floor of a building where his firm rented space.
I had been there dozens of times.
Birthday lunches.
Christmas parties.
The night I brought him dinner because he was “working late.”
Had Rachel been there that night?
Had someone else?
At six in the morning, the doctor released me with strict instructions to rest and return if contractions became regular.
My sister, Megan, picked me up.
I hadn’t called my parents.
I couldn’t handle my mother crying.
Megan was different.
Megan got angry first.
She listened in silence while I told her everything.
When I finished, she gripped the steering wheel.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Megan.”
“Fine. I’m going to emotionally kill him.”
“I need to go to his office.”
She looked at me.
“You need to go to bed.”
I showed her the text.
Her expression changed.
“That could be anyone.”
“I know.”
“It could be him trying to scare you.”
“I know.”
“It could be the mistress.”
“Rachel already gave me her number.”
Megan stared at the message.
“Then we’re not going alone.”
An hour later, we stood outside Daniel’s office suite with building security.
I had called his company’s HR director and said I needed access to personal property belonging to me.
Technically, I wasn’t sure that was enough.
But when I mentioned potential financial fraud, people became helpful.
Daniel wasn’t there.
His assistant, Nora, looked terrified when she saw me.
“Emily.”
“Where’s Daniel?”
“He called in.”
“Did he say why?”
“No.”
She looked at my stomach.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with sympathy.
That made me suspicious.
“How much do you know?”
She froze.
Megan stepped beside me.
“What does she mean?”
Nora lowered her voice.
“Can we talk privately?”
We went into a small conference room.
Nora closed the door.
“I didn’t know about Rachel.”
I stared at her.
“So there’s someone you did know about?”
Her eyes dropped.
My skin went cold.
“Nora.”
“There was another woman.”
Megan whispered a curse.
I gripped the back of a chair.
“Who?”
“I never knew her name.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
My heart cracked in a completely new place.
“Last year?”
“I saw them together twice. Daniel said she was a client.”
“Did they look like client and consultant?”
Nora shook her head.
“I told him I was uncomfortable covering for him.”
“Covering how?”
“He asked me to change calendar entries.”
Megan leaned forward.
“Change them from what to what?”
“Personal appointments became client meetings.”
I sat down.
My legs suddenly felt too weak.
“How many?”
Nora swallowed.
“A lot.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“He’s my boss.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
“No. It isn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes.
I wanted to hate her.
But I was too tired.
“What about money?”
Her silence made me open my eyes.
“What?”
“A few months ago, Daniel started having packages delivered here.”
“What kind of packages?”
“I don’t know. Documents mostly.”
“From where?”
“Banks. Investment companies. A law office.”
“What law office?”
She went to her desk and returned with a business card.
HARRISON, COLE & BLAKE
ASSET PROTECTION & FAMILY LAW
Megan read it twice.
“Family law?”
I felt sick.
Had Daniel been planning to leave me?
While I decorated the nursery?
While we chose our daughter’s name?
I stood.
“His office.”
Nora hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
She reached into her desk and handed me a flash drive.
“Daniel told me to destroy this yesterday.”
I stared at it.
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know. I made a copy before he could take it.”
“Why?”
“Because he was acting scared.”
I put the drive into my purse.
We entered Daniel’s private office.
At first, everything looked normal.
Desk.
Computer.
Bookshelves.
Family photo.
Me, Daniel, and my pregnant belly at our baby shower.
I almost threw it across the room.
Instead I opened drawers.
The first held office supplies.
The second held contracts.
The third was locked.
Megan looked at me.
“Do you have a key?”
“No.”
Building security refused to break company property.
Nora disappeared and returned with a small key.
“Don’t ask.”
I unlocked the drawer.
Inside was a folder.
My name was written across the tab.
EMILY CARTER.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Copies of my driver’s license.
My Social Security card.
Old tax returns.
Bank statements.
A sample of my signature.
Megan whispered, “Oh my God.”
Underneath those papers was a document titled:
POSTNUPTIAL AGREEMENT.
My signature appeared on the final page.
I had never seen it before.
The agreement stated that in the event of divorce, I waived claims to Daniel’s retirement accounts, business interests, and several investment properties I didn’t even know existed.
Megan leaned over my shoulder.
“He has investment properties?”
“I don’t know.”
I flipped pages.
A notary seal appeared beside my forged signature.
“This is fraud.”
Megan took photos.
I kept searching.
At the bottom of the drawer was a sealed envelope.
Inside was a life insurance policy.
My name was at the top.
INSURED: EMILY CARTER.
BENEFICIARY: DANIEL CARTER.
Policy value:
$2,000,000.
I stopped breathing.
Megan snatched the document.
“When did he take this out?”
I searched for the issue date.
Five months ago.
One month before the home equity loan.
Two weeks before, according to Nora, his strange financial deliveries began.
Megan stared at me.
“We’re going to the police.”
I nodded.
Then I saw a handwritten note clipped to the back.
Three words.
Policy active 9/1.
September first.
Twelve days ago.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I stared at his name.
Megan said, “Don’t answer.”
I answered.
His voice came immediately.
“Where are you?”
I said nothing.
“Emily.”
I looked around his office.
The forged documents.
The insurance policy.
The secret file.
Then I saw the office door begin to open.
Daniel stepped inside.
Phone against his ear.
May you like
His eyes went directly to the insurance policy in my hand.
And for the first time since I had known him, my husband looked genuinely terrified.
