Chapter 3
I thought I had misunderstood her.
“What did you say?”
Detective Morales did not look away.
“The document lists Jessica as your daughter’s mother.”
Claire moved closer to my bed.
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s forged,” the detective said. “But it appears someone was preparing to establish a false paper trail.”
I could barely breathe.
“And me?”
“There is no reference to you on the document.”
The room tilted.
Ryan wasn’t trying to scare me into signing divorce papers.
He was preparing to erase me.
My hand moved instinctively toward the surgical dressing across my stomach.
“They were going to take my baby.”
“We’re investigating exactly what they intended.”
I shook my head.
“No. You don’t understand. Ryan has talked about this before.”
Claire stared at me.
“What?”
“Not like this. He used to make comments.”
“What comments?”
I swallowed.
“When we first found out the baby was a girl, he said if anything happened to me, he’d make sure she had a ‘real mother’ before she could remember me.”
Claire’s face went white.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Because I thought it was a stupid joke.”
Detective Morales wrote quickly.
“Did he mention Jessica?”
“No. I didn’t even know about her then.”
The detective nodded.
“We’ll need a complete statement when you’re medically able.”
“I can give it now.”
“You just had emergency surgery.”
“My husband tried to have me hit by a car.”
My voice broke.
“And someone forged documents to make his mistress my daughter’s mother. I’m able.”
Before she could answer, the door opened.
A nurse stepped in.
“Emily?”
“Yes?”
“Your daughter is stable enough for you to visit the NICU.”
Everything else disappeared.
“Yes.”
Claire helped me into a wheelchair.
Every movement hurt.
But I didn’t care.
The NICU was quiet except for machines and soft voices.
My daughter lay inside a clear incubator.
She looked even smaller than I remembered.
A nurse smiled.
“She’s doing well.”
I rolled closer.
“What does she weigh?”
“Four pounds, three ounces.”
I pressed my hand against the plastic.
Her tiny fingers moved.
I cried immediately.
“Can I touch her?”
The nurse opened a small side panel.
“Wash your hands first.”
I scrubbed them until my skin felt raw.
Then I slipped one hand inside.
My daughter wrapped her fingers around my pinky.
That was the moment I stopped feeling afraid.
Not because the danger was gone.
Because I finally understood what I had to do.
Ryan could threaten me.
Jessica could lie.
They could build fake documents, hide evidence, follow me, manipulate everyone around us.
But they were not taking my daughter.
I leaned toward the incubator.
“Your name is Lily.”
Claire smiled behind me.
“You decided?”
“I decided weeks ago.”
“Ryan hated that name.”
“I know.”
That was exactly why I chose it.
My daughter was not going to carry the name Ryan had demanded.
Not after this.
The nurse handed me a small card.
“Would you like us to list authorized visitors?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Me and Claire.”
“Father?”
“No.”
The nurse looked at me.
“No access without my written permission.”
“I’ll note that.”
“And Jessica Parker cannot come near her.”
The nurse stopped.
“Understood.”
Detective Morales appeared near the doorway.
She waited until the nurse finished.
Then she approached quietly.
“I have an update.”
I kissed Lily’s hand before turning.
“Tell me.”
“Jessica has been arrested.”
Claire exhaled.
“For what?”
“Aggravated assault at this stage. Additional charges may follow.”
“And Ryan?”
“He’s also under arrest.”
My eyes filled with tears.
Not because I felt sorry for him.
Because hearing it made everything real.
“My husband is in jail.”
“For now.”
“What do you mean, for now?”
“They’ll have bond hearings.”
“You heard the recording.”
“I know.”
“He planned it.”
“I know.”
“He could come back.”
“We’re asking for protective conditions.”
I looked at Lily.
“That isn’t enough.”
Detective Morales nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
I faced her fully.
“That man knew exactly where I was going. He tracked me to my sister’s apartment. He forged documents before my daughter was even born.”
“We’re taking it seriously.”
“Then tell me what else was in that storage unit.”
She hesitated.
That told me there was more.
“What else?”
Claire moved beside me.
“Emily, maybe—”
“No.”
I looked at the detective.
“What else?”
She lowered her voice.
“There were several prepaid phones.”
My stomach twisted.
“Okay.”
“A laptop.”
“Okay.”
“Copies of your medical records.”
“How?”
“We don’t know yet.”
My skin prickled.
“Anything else?”
“There was a handwritten schedule of your appointments.”
I stared at her.
“Every appointment?”
“Many of them.”
“Who gave it to him?”
“We’re investigating.”
Only five people knew my prenatal schedule.
Me.
Ryan.
Claire.
My doctor.
And the receptionist who booked each visit.
No one else.
Detective Morales continued.
“There were also photographs.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
She paused.
“More than forty.”
Claire whispered a curse.
“Taken where?”
“Your home. Grocery store. Workplace. Your sister’s apartment. The clinic.”
My mouth went dry.
“Someone followed me.”
“Yes.”
“Ryan was working during some of those times.”
“We know.”
“So who took them?”
“We’re trying to identify that person.”
I looked at Claire.
This was bigger than Ryan and Jessica.
Someone else had been helping.
Later that afternoon, an officer brought me paperwork for an emergency protective order.
I signed everything.
My attorney, Rachel Kim, arrived before dinner.
Claire had called her.
Rachel had handled a business dispute for my company two years earlier.
She walked into the hospital room wearing a gray suit and carrying two thick folders.
“First, you’re not going back to the house.”
“I need clothes.”
“We’ll arrange a police escort later.”
“My laptop is there.”
“We’ll retrieve what you need.”
“I own half that house.”
“You may own more than half by the time I’m finished.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Rachel sat down.
“I reviewed the preliminary arrest information.”
“What happens next?”
“We protect you. We protect Lily. Then we untangle every financial connection Ryan has created.”
“Financial?”
Rachel opened the first folder.
“Claire told me about the insurance policy.”
“Yes.”
“I made some calls with your authorization.”
“And?”
“Ryan didn’t merely increase your life insurance.”
She slid a document toward me.
“He purchased an additional accidental death policy.”
I stared at the number.
Three million dollars.
My hands began trembling.
“He would get five million if I died?”
“Potentially.”
“After a car hit me?”
Rachel nodded.
“Accidental death.”
Claire covered her mouth.
I felt sick.
“Why would Jessica hit me gently if Ryan wanted me dead?”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“Maybe she wasn’t supposed to.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Think about the recording.”
Hit her hard enough to scare her, but protect the baby.
“That sounds like he didn’t want me dead.”
“Or it sounds like something a man might deliberately say if he knew the phone was recording.”
My skin turned cold.
“No.”
“Emily, I’m not saying that’s what happened. But don’t assume the recording tells the whole story.”
A nurse entered carrying my dinner.
I couldn’t touch it.
Rachel opened the second folder.
“There’s another problem.”
“What now?”
“Your joint checking account.”
“What about it?”
“Almost empty.”
I stared at her.
“How much?”
“Four hundred twenty-eight dollars.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You had over ninety thousand last month.”
“I know.”
“Ryan transferred it.”
“To Jessica?”
“No.”
“To where?”
Rachel turned a bank statement around.
A company name appeared repeatedly.
Saguaro Family Holdings LLC.
“I’ve never heard of that.”
“It was formed six months ago.”
“By Ryan?”
Rachel shook her head.
“By your mother-in-law.”
My breath caught.
“Diane?”
“Yes.”
Claire stood.
“She knew?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I laughed bitterly.
Of course Diane knew something.
She had defended Ryan through every lie.
When I confronted him about Jessica three months earlier, Diane told me affairs happened because wives became “too comfortable.”
When I threatened divorce, she said a pregnant woman with no husband was pathetic.
When Ryan began sleeping in the guest room, she told me I should be grateful he stayed at all.
I had thought she was cruel.
I hadn’t realized she might be involved.
My phone buzzed on the bedside table.
Claire picked it up.
“Unknown number.”
“Don’t answer.”
It buzzed again.
Then a text appeared.
Claire read it.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She handed me the phone.
The message contained one sentence.
Ryan is not the person you should be afraid of.
Another message arrived.
Ask your sister where she was at 2:17 yesterday afternoon.
Claire stared at the screen.
Then at me.
“What is this?”
I looked at her.
“Where were you?”
Her expression changed.
“Emily.”
“Where were you at 2:17?”
She stepped backward.
“I can explain.”
My heart stopped.
“Explain what?”
Claire looked toward Detective Morales.
May you like
Then she whispered words I never expected to hear.
“I met with Jessica.”
