Chapter 4
I didn’t go home.
I went to my mother’s house.
At 11:43 p.m., I stood on her porch and rang the bell until she opened the door.
She looked twenty years older than she had that morning.
“Emily.”
I walked past her.
Rachel was sitting in the living room.
Of course she was.
Her eyes were swollen.
I stopped.
“You called her?”
Mom closed the door.
“She was upset.”
I laughed without humor.
“So am I.”
Rachel stood.
“Please don’t do this in front of Mom.”
“This is exactly where we’re doing it.”
I threw my phone onto the coffee table.
The screenshots were open.
Rachel stared down at them.
Her face drained.
“Where did you get those?”
“Daniel’s pregnant girlfriend.”
Mom sat down slowly.
“What pregnant girlfriend?”
I looked at her.
“Oh. You didn’t know that part?”
Her mouth opened.
I turned back to Rachel.
“Forty-eight thousand dollars.”
Rachel looked away.
“How much money has Daniel given you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I didn’t keep track.”
“Then start remembering.”
Mom stepped closer.
“Emily, money can be dealt with later.”
“No, Mom. Apparently money is the only thing anyone in this family has been dealing with honestly.”
Rachel shook her head.
“He helped sometimes.”
“With company money?”
“I didn’t know where it came from.”
“But you knew I didn’t know.”
She didn’t answer.
“How much?”
“Maybe thirty thousand.”
“The records say more.”
“I’m telling you what I remember.”
“He paid Noah’s school deposit?”
“Yes.”
“Medical bills?”
“Yes.”
“Your rent?”
“Sometimes.”
“For seven years?”
“No.”
“How many?”
She started crying again.
“Please.”
“Stop crying and answer me.”
“Emily,” Mom warned.
I turned on her.
“No. You don’t get to manage my tone tonight.”
She went quiet.
I looked at Rachel.
“How long?”
“On and off. Five years.”
I sat down because my legs suddenly felt weak.
Five years.
Daniel and I shared finances.
Or I thought we did.
Our house had belonged to my father before he died.
Dad left it to me.
Daniel always called it ours.
Legally, it was mine.
At least I thought it was.
“Ashley says Daniel borrowed against my house.”
Rachel looked confused.
“What?”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Mom looked away.
I noticed.
My chest tightened.
“Mom?”
She pressed her lips together.
“Mom, look at me.”
Slowly, she did.
“What do you know about my house?”
“Nothing.”
“You just looked away.”
“I’m tired.”
“So am I.”
I stepped toward her.
“Did Daniel ask you for paperwork?”
She frowned.
“Years ago.”
“What paperwork?”
“Your father’s trust documents.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Maybe two years ago.”
“Why?”
“He said your accountant needed copies.”
“I don’t have an accountant.”
Mom’s eyes widened.
I grabbed my purse.
Rachel stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To my house.”
“Daniel might be there.”
“Then he can watch me change the locks again.”
Mom caught my arm.
“Emily, don’t go alone.”
I looked down at her hand.
She released me.
“You had seven years to worry about me being alone.”
She started crying.
I left anyway.
When I reached my street, Daniel’s SUV was parked outside.
My locksmith had changed the front door lock that afternoon.
Daniel was sitting on the porch beside two suitcases.
He stood when my headlights hit him.
I stayed inside the car and called the police non-emergency line.
Daniel walked toward my window.
I lowered it two inches.
“Leave.”
“Can we please talk?”
“No.”
“This is my house too.”
“No, it isn’t.”
His expression changed.
“We’re married.”
“My father left this house to me.”
“We renovated it together.”
“With money from my inheritance.”
“I paid bills here for twelve years.”
“And apparently bills at Rachel’s apartment too.”
He stepped back.
I watched the color disappear from his face.
“I talked to her.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
“You lost the right to tell me what I’m supposed to do.”
“Emily, I gave Rachel money because of Noah.”
“Because he’s your son?”
“I don’t know.”
“You made sure you didn’t know.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“This is not simple.”
“It’s actually becoming incredibly simple.”
I held up my phone.
“Did you take out a loan against this house?”
He stared at me.
There.
That fear again.
“Who told you that?”
“Answer me.”
“It wasn’t a loan against the house.”
“What was it?”
“A line of credit.”
I laughed.
“You think changing the noun helps?”
“We needed liquidity.”
“We?”
“My investment group.”
I unlocked my door and got out.
Daniel followed me up the driveway.
I turned around.
“You borrowed money against property you don’t own?”
“You signed the authorization.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“You don’t remember every paper you sign.”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
For twelve years, Daniel had been better at arguments than I was.
He spoke confidently.
Quickly.
He made uncertainty sound like proof.
But tonight, for the first time, I could see the machinery behind it.
He wasn’t confident.
He was calculating.
“Show me.”
“What?”
“The document I signed.”
“I don’t have it here.”
“Then send it.”
“It’s midnight.”
“You knew where my divorce papers were during dinner.”
His face hardened.
“You planned tonight to humiliate me.”
“I planned tonight because I knew you would lie in private.”
“You brought my career into this.”
“You slept with your subordinate.”
“She’s not innocent.”
“I didn’t say she was.”
“She knew I was married.”
“So did Rachel.”
That shut him up.
I went toward the front door.
He followed.
“Emily.”
“Do not come inside.”
“My things are inside.”
“No. Your things are on the porch.”
“I have legal rights.”
“And I have cameras.”
He looked toward the doorbell camera.
Then back at me.
“You’re enjoying this.”
That finally broke something in me.
I turned.
“You think I’m enjoying discovering that my husband slept with my sister while I was losing pregnancies?”
His expression shifted.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Use that.”
“Use what? My own life?”
“I was grieving too.”
I stared at him.
He continued.
“You shut me out.”
My mouth fell open.
“You slept with Rachel because I shut you out?”
“No.”
“That is exactly what you just implied.”
“I was alone.”
“So was I.”
“You made every conversation about having a baby.”
“Because we were trying to have a baby.”
“I couldn’t breathe in this house.”
My eyes filled with tears.
Finally.
I hated that he saw them.
I wiped them away.
“And Rachel helped you breathe?”
He looked ashamed.
For two seconds.
Then defensive again.
“I made one terrible decision.”
“One?”
“Ashley was different.”
I laughed.
“You are unbelievable.”
“My marriage was already falling apart.”
“That’s strange. You renewed our vows ten months ago.”
He had no answer.
“And Ashley’s baby?”
He looked away.
“Is it yours?”
“Yes.”
The word hurt more than I expected.
Maybe because it was the first thing he had admitted without being forced.
“How far along?”
“Twenty-one weeks.”
I closed my eyes.
Five months.
Five months earlier, Daniel had surprised me with a weekend in New York.
We had talked about adoption.
He held my hand and said maybe our family was still waiting for us.
Ashley had already been pregnant.
I opened my eyes.
“Get off my property.”
“Emily.”
“Now.”
“I can fix some of this.”
“No.”
“Rachel was years ago.”
“No.”
“Ashley and I were ending things.”
“No.”
“The baby complicates everything.”
“No, Daniel. The baby clarifies everything.”
A police car turned onto the street.
Daniel looked toward it.
“You called them?”
“I told you to leave.”
His face hardened.
“You really want to make me your enemy?”
I looked at the man I had slept beside for twelve years.
My husband.
My sister’s possible child’s father.
My pregnant rival’s boss.
The man who may have forged my name.
“You already decided what you were.”
He picked up his suitcases.
The officer stepped out of the cruiser.
Daniel walked toward his SUV.
Before getting inside, he turned around.
“You should check your father’s trust before you feel too secure.”
I froze.
“What does that mean?”
He smiled.
Not warmly.
Not kindly.
The smile of a man who believed he still had one card left.
May you like
“Ask your mother.”
Then he drove away.
