Chapter 5
I didn’t sleep.
At seven the next morning, I called the attorney who had handled my father’s estate.
His name was Lawrence Pike.
He had known me since I was fourteen.
When I told him I needed to see him immediately, he didn’t ask questions.
“Come at nine.”
I arrived at eight forty-five.
By nine twenty, he had turned pale.
“You’re sure Daniel said this?”
“Ask my mother about the trust.”
Lawrence removed his glasses.
“Emily, there were changes.”
My chest tightened.
“What changes?”
“Your mother came to me about four years ago.”
“Why?”
“She said you wanted Daniel added as an authorized manager for some trust assets.”
“I never said that.”
Lawrence stared at me.
“She brought a signed letter.”
“Signed by me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still have it?”
He opened a file.
Then pushed a copy across the desk.
The signature looked like mine.
Almost.
But the E curved too sharply.
And I never wrote my middle initial that way.
“I didn’t sign this.”
Lawrence’s expression changed.
“Are you certain?”
“Absolutely.”
He looked sick.
“What authority did it give him?”
“Limited authority. He couldn’t sell the house, but he could communicate with financial institutions regarding trust assets.”
“Could he borrow against them?”
“Not without additional authorization.”
“Ashley found a home equity line.”
Lawrence immediately reached for the phone.
“Do not contact Daniel.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He called someone at the bank.
For the next forty minutes, I sat across from him as my marriage transformed into numbers.
There was a $320,000 home equity line.
Opened eighteen months earlier.
Current balance: $287,400.
I felt physically ill.
“Where did the money go?”
“We need statements.”
“Can you get them?”
“With your authorization, yes.”
“I’m authorizing everything.”
Lawrence nodded.
Then he looked at the trust file again.
“Emily, there’s another issue.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Daniel was listed as beneficiary of one investment account.”
“What?”
“Only in the event of your death.”
“I never did that.”
“The beneficiary form was updated three years ago.”
I stopped moving.
“How much?”
“Current value is around nine hundred thousand.”
I stared at him.
He quickly added, “Being named beneficiary doesn’t give him control while you’re alive.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
My phone rang.
Ashley.
I almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“Hello?”
Her voice shook.
“Daniel came to my apartment.”
I stood.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Is he there now?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“He wants me to sign a statement.”
“What statement?”
“That our relationship started after he told me he was separated.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I know.”
“He did tell you that.”
“Yes, but I found out the truth months ago.”
“Did he threaten you?”
Ashley started crying.
“He said the company will fire me and no one else will hire me after an ethics investigation.”
Lawrence watched my face.
I put the call on speaker.
“Ashley, I’m with my attorney.”
She went quiet.
“Is that okay?”
“Yes.”
Lawrence leaned closer.
“Did Daniel make any direct threat?”
“He said, ‘You need to decide whether you want your child to have a father with a career or a father facing criminal charges.’”
Lawrence and I looked at each other.
“What criminal charges?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Did he say?”
“No. But he kept asking what I had copied from his laptop.”
Lawrence mouthed, Do not delete anything.
I nodded.
“Ashley, keep every message. Every email. Every file.”
“I have them.”
“Back them up somewhere Daniel cannot access.”
“I already did.”
Lawrence asked, “Ms. Cole, did Mr. Mercer discuss company money used for personal expenses?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s last name sounded strange coming from someone else.
Mercer.
For twelve years, I had been Emily Mercer.
Now the name felt borrowed.
Ashley continued.
“I processed reimbursements for him sometimes.”
“What kind?”
“Travel. Client dinners. Memberships.”
“Did you ever process payments to Rachel Foster?”
There was a pause.
“I processed payments to a consulting company called R.F. Strategies.”
I closed my eyes.
Rachel Foster.
R.F.
“How much?” Lawrence asked.
“Over several years? Maybe sixty thousand.”
My anger came back instantly.
“My sister doesn’t own a consulting company.”
Ashley whispered, “I know.”
Lawrence sat forward.
“How do you know?”
“Because last night I searched the state business registry. R.F. Strategies was registered using Daniel’s old condo address.”
I stared at the phone.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Six years.
This wasn’t a bad decision.
It wasn’t a one-time cover-up.
Daniel had built systems.
Paperwork.
Accounts.
He had hidden money for years.
Lawrence asked Ashley to send him copies.
She agreed.
Before hanging up, she said my name.
“Emily?”
“Yes?”
“I know you hate me.”
I didn’t answer.
She continued.
“You should.”
Still nothing.
“But I’m sorry.”
“I believe you’re sorry now.”
She inhaled shakily.
“That’s fair.”
“I have to go.”
“One more thing.”
I waited.
“Daniel said something about Rachel last night.”
“What?”
“He said if she talks, she loses everything.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“What does Rachel have to lose?”
“I don’t know.”
The call ended.
I drove directly to Rachel’s apartment.
Her car was outside.
So was my mother’s.
I knocked.
Nobody answered.
I knocked harder.
“Rachel!”
The door finally opened.
Mom stood there.
Her face was pale.
“Why are you here?”
I stepped inside.
Rachel was sitting at the kitchen table.
A stack of papers lay in front of her.
She looked terrified.
“What happened?”
Rachel glanced at Mom.
Then me.
“Daniel called.”
“I know.”
“He says you’re trying to get him arrested.”
“I’m trying to find out what he did.”
“He said if the company investigates the payments, they’ll blame me too.”
“You accepted fake consulting payments.”
“I didn’t know they were company money at first.”
“At first?”
She looked down.
I moved closer.
“When did you find out?”
“Two years ago.”
“And you kept taking them?”
“I needed them.”
“For what?”
“My rent. Noah’s tuition.”
“You could have asked me.”
Rachel looked up suddenly.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I couldn’t take money from you.”
I stared at her.
“But you could take stolen money from my husband?”
“I didn’t know it was stolen.”
“You just said you knew two years ago!”
“I thought Daniel was going to pay it back.”
I laughed in disbelief.
Mom stepped between us.
“Enough.”
I looked at her.
“No. Not enough.”
I pointed at the papers.
“What are those?”
Rachel covered them with her hand.
I walked around Mom.
“What are they?”
“Nothing.”
I pulled one free.
Rachel grabbed for it.
Too late.
It was a life insurance policy.
Daniel Mercer.
Insured amount: $2 million.
Beneficiary: Noah Foster.
I stared at Rachel.
Then at my mother.
“What is this?”
Rachel started crying.
“Daniel bought it years ago.”
“Why is Noah the beneficiary?”
“He said if something ever happened to him, he wanted Noah taken care of.”
My entire body went cold.
“How old was Noah when he did this?”
“Two.”
I looked at the date.
Five years earlier.
Daniel had claimed he didn’t know whether Noah was his.
But he had insured his own life for Noah.
“Did you ask him why?”
Rachel covered her face.
“I knew why.”
The room became silent.
I whispered, “You knew Noah was Daniel’s.”
Rachel lowered her hands.
“No.”
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“That’s not what your face says.”
Mom sat down.
Rachel began shaking.
“We did a test.”
I stopped breathing.
“When?”
Rachel cried harder.
“When Noah was three.”
I stared at her.
“You told me you never did one.”
“I lied.”
The words landed like a slap.
I could barely hear myself.
“And?”
Rachel looked at me.
May you like
Tears rolled down her face.
“Daniel is Noah’s father.”
