Chapter 3 - WHAT NOAH HEARD
Emily’s blood ran cold.
“What exactly did she say?”
Noah squeezed her hand.
“I was behind the big flowerpot.”
“You were hiding?”
“I was playing spy.”
Normally, Emily might have smiled.
She couldn’t now.
“What did you hear?”
Noah swallowed.
“She was on the phone.”
“With who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she say, Noah?”
He stared at the floor.
“She said, ‘Daniel thinks she signed it. Once the accident happens, everything gets easier.’”
Emily stopped breathing.
“What did I sign?”
“I don’t know.”
“And then?”
“She said, ‘Make sure he stays downtown until five.’”
Emily looked at the clock.
Daniel had arrived at 3:42.
Early.
Why?
Then Noah whispered, “She saw me.”
Emily turned.
“What?”
“After you fell in.”
“Before Daddy came?”
Noah nodded.
“She told me I was confused.”
Emily’s grip tightened.
“What else?”
“She said if I told people bad stories, they might take me away from you.”
Emily felt something inside her snap.
Fear disappeared.
In its place came rage.
The door opened.
Daniel entered.
He had changed into hospital scrubs someone had given him.
Noah immediately moved closer to Emily.
Daniel noticed.
“Hey, buddy.”
Noah didn’t answer.
Daniel looked at Emily.
“The baby?”
“Stable.”
He exhaled.
“Thank God.”
“Don’t thank God yet.”
Daniel frowned.
Emily looked at Noah.
“Tell Daddy what you told me.”
Noah hesitated.
Daniel crouched.
“You can tell me anything.”
Noah’s eyes filled with tears.
“The white lady wanted Mommy to die.”
Daniel went still.
“What?”
Noah repeated everything.
The phone call.
The papers.
The “accident.”
The threat.
By the end, Daniel looked sick.
“I didn’t know.”
Emily laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You didn’t know your mistress was planning something?”
“My what?”
“Don’t insult me.”
Daniel looked down.
“I ended it.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“How long did it last?”
He didn’t answer.
Emily stared at him.
“How long, Daniel?”
“Eight months.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Eight months.
The same length as her pregnancy.
She turned her face away.
Daniel whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“You were sleeping with another woman while I was carrying your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And you brought her into our home.”
“She invested in the company. I thought—”
“You thought with the wrong part of your body.”
Daniel took the hit.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
She looked at him.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Daniel reached inside a plastic hospital bag.
“There’s something else.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“Of course there is.”
He placed a photocopied document on the bed.
Emily saw her name at the bottom.
Her signature.
Except she had never signed it.
“What is this?”
“A spousal consent.”
“For what?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“For the transfer of our home.”
Emily stared at the fake signature.
“I didn’t sign this.”
“I know.”
She looked up.
Daniel’s face had changed.
The shame was still there.
But now there was fear.
“If Vivian forged this,” he said, “then the house isn’t what scares me.”
“What does?”
Daniel turned the final page around.
Attached to it was a life insurance document.
Emily Carter.
Beneficiary: Daniel Carter.
Policy value:
Ten million dollars.
And below Daniel’s name was a second signature authorizing a recent beneficiary transfer.
May you like
To Vivian Cross.
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