Chapter 6
The next morning, I woke up on Lauren’s couch wearing the same clothes from dinner.
For a few seconds, I didn’t remember anything.
Then I saw my purse on the floor.
The velvet jewelry box was sticking out of it.
And everything came back.
Madison.
The affair.
The baby.
My house.
My trust.
My cabin.
The shell company.
My forged signature.
I sat up too quickly.
My phone was on the coffee table.
Thirty-seven missed calls.
Twenty-two from Daniel.
Seven from Patricia.
Four from numbers I didn’t recognize.
One from Richard.
Three from David.
The last message from David was six minutes old.
Call me as soon as you wake up.
I called.
He answered immediately.
“Are you alone?”
“Lauren’s here.”
“Put me on speaker.”
Lauren appeared from the hallway, still tying her robe.
“What happened?”
I turned on speaker.
David didn’t waste time.
“Daniel’s office was entered at 2:13 this morning.”
I stared at the phone.
“Entered?”
“Security logs show his access card.”
“Did he remove anything?”
“Possibly.”
My stomach tightened.
“The security guard says Daniel and Patricia left with two document boxes.”
Lauren swore.
“Can they do that?”
“It’s his company office. The issue is what was in those boxes.”
“What about the servers?”
“Richard had cloud backups.”
I exhaled.
Then David continued.
“But we have another problem.”
Of course we did.
“What?”
“Your personal bank froze two accounts this morning.”
I stood.
“Why?”
“Fraud review.”
“Because we reported the transfers?”
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then why?”
“Someone tried to wire $280,000 out of your savings account at 6:04 a.m.”
I gripped the edge of the couch.
“To where?”
“An international account.”
“Did it go through?”
“No. The bank blocked it.”
“Who tried?”
“They won’t confirm yet.”
I didn’t need confirmation.
Daniel.
Who else?
“Emily,” David said, “you need to go to the bank today with identification. Lauren should go with you.”
“I will,” Lauren said.
“And your house?”
“What about it?”
“Do you have cameras?”
“Yes.”
“Check them.”
My heart jumped.
I opened the security app.
The front door camera showed nothing current.
I scrolled backward.
3:47 a.m.
Motion detected.
I pressed play.
A black SUV pulled into my driveway.
Daniel stepped out.
Then Patricia.
I stopped breathing.
Daniel walked to my front door.
He used his key.
My stomach turned.
“He went inside.”
Lauren leaned over my shoulder.
We switched to the interior camera in the entry hall.
There he was.
My husband.
Inside my house.
His mother behind him.
Patricia looked nervous.
Daniel looked focused.
He didn’t wander.
He didn’t hesitate.
He walked directly toward my home office.
I switched cameras.
The office feed showed him opening drawers.
Cabinets.
Folders.
Patricia stood by the door.
At one point she said something.
The camera had audio.
I turned up the volume.
“Daniel, hurry.”
“I’m looking.”
“For what?”
“The blue folder.”
My blood went cold.
The blue folder.
I knew exactly what that was.
It contained original documents related to my grandmother’s trust.
My father’s cabin.
The deed to the house.
My birth certificate.
Old tax records.
Everything.
On-screen, Daniel found it.
He pulled it from the bottom drawer.
Patricia whispered, “Is that all?”
“No.”
He opened another drawer.
Then he found my old laptop.
The one I had stopped using two years ago.
He put it under his arm.
“Let’s go.”
I paused the video.
Lauren stared at me.
“They robbed you.”
“My husband used his own key.”
“He entered after you explicitly told him not to.”
“I didn’t change the locks.”
“You shouldn’t have had to.”
I sent the footage to David.
He called back almost immediately.
“Save copies in multiple places.”
“I already am.”
“Do you have anywhere else you personally store important records?”
I thought.
Then I remembered the safe deposit box.
“My bank.”
“What’s in it?”
“My grandmother’s jewelry. My father’s military medals. A few documents.”
“Is Daniel authorized?”
“No.”
“Go there first.”
We left within thirty minutes.
At the bank, the branch manager took us into a private office.
I handed her my identification.
She looked uncomfortable.
“Mrs. Carter, there’s an issue.”
My heart immediately started pounding.
“What issue?”
“Someone attempted to access your safe deposit box yesterday afternoon.”
“Who?”
She checked the screen.
“Daniel Carter.”
“Did he get in?”
“No. He isn’t listed as an authorized renter.”
I exhaled.
“But he claimed you had given him written authorization.”
I looked at Lauren.
“Written?”
The manager nodded.
“He presented a letter.”
“Can I see it?”
She hesitated.
Then printed a copy.
At the bottom was my signature.
Again.
I almost laughed.
It was becoming absurd.
My fake signature had apparently been busier than I was.
The bank manager looked genuinely concerned.
“We denied access because the authorization did not meet our requirements.”
“Did he get angry?”
She paused.
“He became frustrated.”
“Was he alone?”
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
She checked.
“A woman named Patricia Carter.”
Of course.
Lauren looked furious.
“Do you have camera footage?”
“Yes.”
“Preserve it,” I said.
The manager nodded.
David had told me exactly what to say.
“I believe there may be identity fraud involving my accounts. My attorney will contact your legal department.”
Her face became serious.
“Understood.”
We opened the safe deposit box.
Everything was still there.
My grandmother’s wedding ring.
My father’s medals.
The original handwritten letter he left me before he died.
I touched the envelope.
For one second, I almost broke again.
Then Lauren noticed something.
“What’s that?”
At the bottom of the box was a sealed envelope with Daniel’s handwriting.
For Emily.
I stared at it.
“I didn’t put that there.”
The bank manager looked confused.
“Only you have access.”
“That isn’t his?”
“No.”
I picked up the envelope.
The seal had yellowed slightly.
It wasn’t new.
Maybe it had been there for years.
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Emily,
If you are reading this, something has probably gone badly wrong.
I stopped.
Lauren leaned closer.
“What is it?”
I kept reading.
I am writing this because I made a decision I am not proud of.
My hands began shaking.
Before we married, my father asked me to sign a prenuptial agreement. You never knew because I told him no.
I looked at Lauren.
“There was no prenup.”
She shook her head.
I continued.
But three months after our wedding, he asked again. I signed a document related to the family company. I was told it protected family assets. Your name was included in the paperwork, and I signed where I was told.
My stomach tightened.
At the time, I thought it only affected my inheritance. Later, I learned the document could affect you too.
I tried to fix it quietly.
I failed.
If my father ever uses that document against you, call—
The next line contained a lawyer’s name.
Not David.
Someone named Samuel Price.
Then came the final paragraph.
I know this sounds dramatic. Maybe it will never matter. But if you ever discover that I have lied to you about money, do not trust my family to tell you the whole truth.
Daniel
The letter was dated five years earlier.
One year into our marriage.
I felt as if the floor shifted under me.
“Why would he write this?”
Lauren whispered.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel had warned me.
Five years ago.
Which meant at some point, he understood exactly what his family was capable of.
And then somehow he became worse.
We called David.
He told us not to contact Samuel Price until he could investigate who the man represented.
Then my phone rang.
An unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Something made me answer.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice said, “Is this Emily Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Samuel Price.”
I froze.
Lauren saw my face.
“What?”
I put the phone on speaker.
Samuel continued.
“I represented Daniel Carter briefly several years ago.”
My heart hammered.
“How did you get my number?”
“Daniel called me this morning.”
I stared at Lauren.
“What did he say?”
Samuel paused.
“He said you would probably find a letter.”
I looked down at it.
“And?”
“He told me that if you called, I should finally tell you what the document was.”
“What document?”
Samuel took a breath.
“The agreement Daniel signed after your marriage.”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t a prenuptial agreement.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What was it?”
“It was a family partnership agreement.”
I waited.
“And why does that matter?”
“Because your husband pledged something he did not legally own.”
“What?”
Samuel’s voice became quieter.
“Your future inheritance.”
I frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It didn’t then either.”
“My grandmother was still alive.”
“Yes.”
“She hadn’t even finalized her estate.”
“I know.”
“Then how could he pledge it?”
“He couldn’t.”
I stared at Lauren.
Samuel continued.
“That is why I withdrew.”
“You withdrew from what?”
“Representing Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Because after I told him the agreement was invalid, he asked me how difficult it would be to create documents that made it look valid.”
My skin went cold.
Five years ago.
Daniel’s pattern hadn’t started recently.
It had started almost from the beginning.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him never to contact me again.”
“And you’re telling me this now because?”
Samuel was silent.
Then he said, “Because Daniel called me this morning and offered me one hundred thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“To say the agreement was legitimate.”
Lauren’s mouth fell open.
I asked, “Did you record the call?”
Samuel paused.
“Yes.”
May you like
For the first time since dinner, I smiled.
“Good.”
