Chapter 2
Amanda stared at the phone in my hand.
For one frozen second, all I could hear was Sophie breathing against my chest.
Then Amanda rushed at me.
“Give me that!”
I stepped back and raised the phone out of her reach.
“Who is R?”
Her anger disappeared.
Fear replaced it.
“It’s nobody.”
“Nobody is taking my house?”
“That message isn’t what it looks like.”
I scrolled upward.
The conversation went back eight months.
Amanda had sent photographs of my bank statements, my signature, the deed to my home, and documents from the trust I had created for Sophie.
My hands started shaking.
Sophie looked up at me.
“Daddy?”
I locked the phone and put it in my pocket.
“It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Amanda laughed bitterly.
“No, tell her the truth. Tell her she just destroyed our wedding.”
I turned toward the open door.
Our guests were gathering in the hallway.
My mother stood at the front of them, one hand pressed over her mouth.
Amanda’s mother, Cynthia, pushed past the bridesmaids.
“What is happening?”
“The wedding is over,” I said.
Amanda grabbed my arm.
“You cannot humiliate me in front of everyone.”
I looked at her hand until she released me.
“You assaulted my daughter.”
“She needed discipline.”
“She is five.”
“She lies, Daniel. She manipulates you because she cannot stand seeing you happy.”
Sophie flinched.
I felt it.
That tiny movement told me Amanda had said those words before.
I knelt and touched Sophie’s unharmed cheek.
“Has Amanda hurt you before?”
Amanda answered for her.
“Of course not.”
I kept my eyes on Sophie.
“You won’t get in trouble. I promise.”
Her lower lip trembled.
“She said you would send me away if I told.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Amanda’s face tightened.
“That is ridiculous.”
Sophie clutched my lapel.
“She locked me in the pantry.”
A murmur spread through the hallway.
“When?” I asked.
“When you went to Chicago.”
I remembered that trip.
Two months earlier, I had returned to find Sophie feverish and unusually quiet. Amanda said she had caught a stomach bug.
“How long were you inside?”
“I don’t know. It got dark.”
My mother began to cry.
Amanda pointed at Sophie.
“She is making it up because she hates me.”
I stood and faced the guests.
“Someone call the police.”
Cynthia stepped between us.
“You will not have my daughter arrested on her wedding day.”
“She struck a child.”
“She was stressed.”
I stared at her.
“That is your defense?”
Amanda suddenly ran toward the side door.
I handed Sophie to my mother and chased her.
Amanda made it through the corridor before one of the venue employees blocked the exit.
“Move!” she screamed.
I caught up and held out my hand.
“You’re not leaving with my car or anything from my house.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You think the house is yours?”
“It is mine.”
She smiled.
It was cold and strangely confident.
“Check the documents you signed this morning.”
My stomach dropped.
My attorney had prepared a marriage agreement. Amanda had insisted we sign the final copies before the ceremony so our honeymoon would begin without unfinished business.
I had signed where yellow tabs marked the pages.
“What did you do?”
She moved closer.
“You never read anything when you’re emotional.”
I pulled the folded documents from inside my jacket.
The first pages looked familiar.
The last page did not.
It authorized the transfer of my house into a newly formed company called A&R Holdings.
The signature at the bottom looked exactly like mine.
But I had never seen that page.
“You switched it.”
Amanda’s smile widened.
“You signed it.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Her confidence finally cracked.
She looked toward the window, then back at me.
“You are going to regret choosing her.”
I took one step closer.
“No, Amanda. I’m going to regret that I ever let you near her.”
Two officers entered the corridor.
Sophie came running from my mother’s arms.
She wrapped herself around my leg.
Amanda watched her with hatred.
Then the second phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out.
May you like
A new message from R appeared.
“Did he sign? I’m waiting inside the house.”
