Chapter 2
Daniel froze.
Not the kind of freeze people do when they are embarrassed.
This was fear.
Real fear.
His face changed so quickly that everyone in the room noticed.
“Ashley,” he said quietly.
She stepped away from the table.
“No.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“We are not doing this here.”
Ashley laughed through her tears.
“You told me that for eleven months.”
A few people looked at each other.
Daniel’s boss, Richard Bennett, slowly lowered his champagne glass.
I stared at Ashley.
“What don’t I know?”
Daniel moved between us.
“Emily, she’s upset. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
Ashley looked over his shoulder.
“Yes, I do.”
“Ashley.”
She ignored him.
“Ask your sister why Daniel paid her rent for eight months.”
For a second, I thought I had misunderstood.
“My sister?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
And that was enough.
My stomach dropped.
I heard someone whisper, “Oh my God.”
I looked at Daniel.
“What does Rachel have to do with this?”
“Nothing.”
Ashley shook her head.
“That’s a lie.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“Shut up.”
The room became even quieter.
Ashley flinched.
Then she reached inside her purse.
“I’m done shutting up.”
She pulled out her phone.
Daniel lunged toward her.
Richard stood.
“Daniel.”
That single word stopped him.
Richard was in his sixties, calm and usually friendly.
He didn’t look friendly now.
Ashley held her phone against her chest.
“I found old messages on Daniel’s laptop. He forgot his personal account was still logged in.”
Daniel looked around the room like he was searching for an exit.
My hands felt cold.
“What messages?”
Ashley hesitated.
I stepped closer.
“What messages, Ashley?”
She swallowed.
“Between Daniel and Rachel.”
I could barely breathe.
My younger sister.
The girl I had protected since we were children.
The woman who had stood beside me at my wedding.
The woman who called Daniel her brother.
“How old?”
Ashley looked at me with pity.
I hated the pity more than anything.
“Seven years.”
Seven years.
My mind immediately went somewhere I didn’t want it to go.
Rachel had separated from her boyfriend seven years earlier.
She had moved into our guest room for almost three months.
Daniel had been unusually kind to her.
He drove her to appointments.
Helped her find an apartment.
Loaned her money.
And six months later, Rachel announced she was pregnant.
She said the father was her ex-boyfriend, Marcus.
Marcus disappeared before Noah was born.
Daniel had been at the hospital.
Daniel had held Noah before I did.
I stared at my husband.
“No.”
He shook his head quickly.
“Emily, whatever you’re thinking—”
“How long?”
“There was nothing.”
Ashley unlocked her phone.
Daniel shouted.
“Don’t.”
Everyone jumped.
Richard stepped between them.
“Sit down, Daniel.”
Daniel ignored him.
His eyes stayed on Ashley.
“That phone contains confidential company information.”
“No,” Ashley said. “It contains pictures of you in your sister-in-law’s apartment.”
My knees almost gave out.
I grabbed the back of a chair.
Daniel turned to me.
“It happened once.”
Ashley stared at him.
“You just said nothing happened.”
He looked trapped.
Then angry.
“Fine. It happened. Years ago. Once.”
I felt something inside me break.
But I didn’t cry.
Not yet.
“Was Rachel pregnant when it happened?”
Daniel stared at me.
That silence answered too much.
“Was she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t.”
Ashley took another step toward me.
“Emily, there’s more.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Of course there is. You’ve decided to burn everything down because I wouldn’t leave my wife fast enough.”
Ashley’s face hardened.
“You told me you already had.”
A murmur moved across the room.
She looked at me.
“He told me you two were legally separated.”
I almost laughed.
“We had dinner together every night.”
“I know that now.”
“He took me to Florida two months ago.”
Ashley looked sick.
“He told me that was a business conference.”
“It was our anniversary.”
Ashley covered her mouth.
For the first time, I believed she might have been lied to too.
It didn’t excuse everything.
She knew eventually.
She continued anyway.
But Daniel had built different versions of his life for different women.
And somehow he expected none of us to compare notes.
Richard walked toward the door.
“This celebration is over.”
Daniel turned around.
“Richard, come on. My marriage has nothing to do with work.”
Richard looked at Ashley.
“She reports directly to you.”
Daniel said nothing.
“And you approved her promotion in March.”
“She deserved it.”
“Did she?”
Ashley’s face flushed.
“Yes,” she said. “I did. My work reviews prove it.”
Richard nodded.
“I’m not accusing you.”
Then he looked at Daniel.
“But this creates a serious issue.”
Daniel rubbed both hands across his face.
“Can everyone stop acting like I committed a crime?”
I heard my own voice before I realized I was speaking.
“Did you?”
He looked at me.
“What?”
I turned toward Ashley.
“You said he paid Rachel’s rent.”
Ashley nodded.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel spoke quickly.
“My own money.”
Ashley looked at him.
“You told me it came from an executive reimbursement account.”
Daniel’s head snapped toward her.
That got Richard’s attention.
“What reimbursement account?”
Ashley’s eyes widened.
“I don’t know the details.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You absolutely do not discuss company finances with anyone outside the company.”
I almost smiled.
“Outside the company?”
I looked around.
“Daniel, half the company is standing here.”
Nobody laughed.
Richard took out his phone.
“I’m calling legal.”
Daniel’s confidence finally cracked.
“Richard, please.”
“Go home, Daniel.”
“We can discuss this privately.”
“We will.”
Richard’s eyes moved toward the divorce papers.
“Tomorrow morning.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You happy now?”
That question was so unbelievable I stared at him.
“You cheated on me with your assistant.”
He said nothing.
“You may have slept with my sister.”
Nothing.
“You may be the father of my nephew.”
His face changed.
Barely.
But I saw it.
And suddenly I knew.
“You thought about that before.”
“Emily—”
“You wondered if Noah was yours.”
Daniel’s mouth opened.
No words came out.
I felt nauseous.
“How long have you wondered?”
Ashley lowered her phone.
Everyone else disappeared from my mind.
There was only Daniel.
My husband of twelve years.
My sister.
And the seven-year-old boy who called me Aunt Em.
Daniel finally spoke.
“Rachel told me he wasn’t mine.”
The room tilted.
I gripped the chair harder.
“So you asked her?”
He looked down.
“She brought it up.”
“When?”
“A few months after he was born.”
My voice shook.
“What did she say?”
“She said Marcus was definitely the father.”
“And you believed her?”
“Yes.”
“Because you wanted to?”
His silence answered again.
I picked up my purse.
Daniel reached for me.
I stepped away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Emily, please. Let’s go home and talk.”
“You don’t live there anymore.”
“Don’t do this.”
“I already did.”
I turned toward Ashley.
“I need those messages.”
Daniel shouted.
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“Why?”
He said nothing.
That frightened me more than everything else.
Ashley nodded slowly.
“I’ll send them.”
Daniel pointed at her.
“If you send private information to my wife, I swear—”
Richard stepped closer.
“Finish that sentence carefully.”
Daniel stopped.
Ashley looked down at her phone.
A second later, mine vibrated.
One file.
Then another.
Then another.
I didn’t open them.
Not there.
I headed for the door.
Behind me, Daniel called my name.
I kept walking.
He followed me into the hallway.
“Emily!”
I hit the elevator button.
He grabbed my arm.
I turned so quickly that he released me.
“You humiliated me in front of everyone.”
I stared at him.
“You did that yourself.”
“Rachel was years ago.”
“And Ashley?”
He looked away.
“I made mistakes.”
“Mistakes?”
“I love you.”
I laughed then.
A broken sound.
“You don’t even know what that word means.”
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Daniel followed.
I put my hand against his chest.
“No.”
“Emily.”
“Go back to your celebration.”
The doors began closing.
His face changed again.
Not regret.
Not shame.
Fear.
“Do not call Rachel tonight.”
I stopped the doors with my hand.
“What?”
“Just don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because this is complicated.”
“No, Daniel. You made it complicated.”
“Emily, listen to me.”
“Why shouldn’t I call my sister?”
He looked toward the restaurant.
Then back at me.
His voice dropped.
May you like
“Because your mother already knows.”
The elevator doors closed between us.
