Chapter 3
Daniel stared at the photographs until his hands began shaking.
“No.”
Mark didn’t react.
“I understand this is difficult.”
“You don’t understand anything.”
Daniel grabbed one picture.
“This is my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And Eric is my best friend.”
Mark said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
Daniel looked at me.
I could see him searching my face for comfort.
A few hours earlier, I would have crossed the room.
I would have touched his shoulder.
I would have told him we would solve it together.
I didn’t move.
Because while Linda might have manipulated him, Daniel had chosen to believe her.
He had chosen to investigate me.
He had chosen secrecy.
Both things could be true.
A person could be manipulated and still be responsible for the damage he caused.
Mark pushed another envelope forward.
“There’s more.”
Daniel sank into his chair.
“What?”
“Your mother asked me to document evidence that Rachel was an unfit parent.”
My jaw tightened.
“I know that part.”
“She also asked me to watch Daniel.”
I looked at him.
Daniel lifted his head.
“Me?”
Mark nodded.
“She wanted your schedule. Meetings. Clients. Where you kept company records.”
“Why?”
“I became suspicious after she asked me to photograph you entering your accountant’s office.”
Daniel frowned.
“That was three weeks ago.”
“She wanted to know what documents you carried out.”
Daniel looked sick.
I asked the obvious question.
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because by then, I had started investigating her.”
Daniel stood.
“You were taking her money while investigating her?”
“I returned the last payment.”
Mark’s expression hardened.
“I don’t like being used to facilitate a crime.”
“Crime?” Daniel repeated.
Mark opened a folder.
“I’m not an accountant, but I know enough to recognize suspicious transfers.”
He slid copies across the table.
I saw numbers.
Company names.
Account codes.
Daniel grabbed them.
His eyes moved rapidly down the page.
“Where did you get these?”
“I followed Eric to a storage facility.”
“That doesn’t explain bank records.”
“He threw documents away.”
Daniel looked up.
“You went through his trash?”
“Perfectly legal once it was placed for collection in a public area.”
Daniel barely seemed to hear.
He was staring at one figure.
“Thirty-eight thousand.”
Then another.
“Twenty-two thousand.”
He turned a page.
“God.”
I watched the color leave his face.
“What?”
“These are payments to subcontractors.”
“So?”
“They’re fake.”
Mark nodded.
“That was my suspicion.”
Daniel flipped through the pages.
“I approved these invoices.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“You approved payments to companies that don’t exist?”
“I thought they existed.”
He tapped a page.
“Eric handled vendor verification.”
I stared at the total amounts.
“How much?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
He finally whispered, “Maybe two hundred thousand.”
My chest tightened.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Our retirement account had been drained.
We had postponed replacing the leaking roof.
I had stopped buying lunch at work because I wanted to save money.
Meanwhile, money had been disappearing from Daniel’s company.
“Why would Linda be involved?”
Mark leaned back.
“That’s what you need to determine.”
Daniel started pacing.
“She invested in the company.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stopped.
“Years ago.”
“You told me you used your inheritance.”
“I did.”
“How much did she invest?”
“Forty thousand.”
“You never told me.”
“It was before we married.”
That was true.
Still, something bothered me.
“If she owns part of the company—”
“She doesn’t.”
“Then why would she steal from it?”
Daniel looked at Mark.
Mark took out his phone.
“I recorded a conversation yesterday.”
Daniel stared.
“Between them?”
“Yes.”
“Play it.”
Mark hesitated.
“You should know it may not prove anything legally depending on recording laws and circumstances.”
“I don’t care right now.”
Mark pressed play.
Linda’s voice filled my kitchen.
“You said he would be desperate by August.”
Then Eric.
“He is desperate.”
“He’s still married to her.”
“I can’t control that.”
“You told me financial pressure would break them.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Linda again.
“Rachel is the reason he doesn’t listen to me anymore.”
Eric laughed.
“That’s personal.”
“It became personal the day she started acting like she owned my son.”
My skin crawled.
Then Eric said something worse.
“Once he defaults, we move.”
“And Sophie?”
A pause.
Then Linda answered.
“Sophie belongs with family.”
I felt my blood turn cold.
I stopped the recording.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
I pointed at Mark’s phone.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sophie belongs with family?”
Mark shook his head.
“I didn’t hear anything beyond that.”
I looked toward the dining table.
Sophie was drawing.
She couldn’t hear us.
Thank God.
Daniel whispered, “She wants custody.”
I stared at him.
He continued.
“She told me if we divorced, she would help me raise Sophie.”
My entire body went cold.
“When?”
“A month ago.”
“And you didn’t think that was relevant?”
“I thought she meant helping.”
“She was preparing for it.”
Daniel sat down.
Everything seemed to hit him at once.
The investigator.
The missing money.
His mother’s pressure.
The custody lawyer.
His own decisions.
“I did exactly what she wanted.”
I didn’t answer.
He looked at me.
“She kept telling me you would leave when the company failed.”
“You believed her.”
“Yes.”
“At least you admit it.”
His eyes became wet.
“I’m sorry.”
I wanted those words to matter.
Eleven years of marriage told me they should matter.
But apologies sounded different when you had discovered how much someone had hidden.
“I can’t deal with us yet,” I said.
He nodded.
“That’s fair.”
“I need to protect Sophie.”
“Yes.”
“Your mother doesn’t come back.”
“Yes.”
“Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not because she cries.”
“Yes.”
“And the investigator stops watching us.”
Mark cleared his throat.
“I already have.”
I looked at him.
“Good.”
Daniel gathered the papers.
“I need to call Eric.”
Mark immediately shook his head.
“Don’t.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“If money is being diverted, warning him lets him destroy evidence.”
Daniel sat back down.
“So what do I do?”
“Call your accountant.”
“It’s nine at night.”
“Then call him at nine.”
Daniel did.
His accountant, Paul, answered after the third ring.
Daniel explained enough to make him listen.
Then he sent photographs of the documents.
Paul became silent.
Finally he said, “Do not log into the company account.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I’m looking at it right now.”
“What?”
“I received an automatic alert twenty minutes ago.”
“For what?”
“A wire transfer request.”
Daniel stood.
“How much?”
“Seventy-five thousand dollars.”
“Stop it.”
“I’m trying.”
“To who?”
Keyboard sounds came through the speaker.
Then Paul said, “Sterling Operations LLC.”
Daniel looked at Mark.
Mark opened his folder.
He pointed at one of the fake vendor names.
Sterling Operations LLC.
My stomach dropped.
Paul continued.
“Daniel, the transfer was initiated using your credentials.”
“I’m standing in my kitchen.”
“Did you authorize it earlier?”
“No.”
“Then somebody has your password.”
Daniel looked at me.
I remembered something.
“Linda.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Does she know your passwords?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
He hesitated.
“My old password was Sophie’s birthday.”
“What’s the new one?”
He looked embarrassed.
“Our anniversary.”
I almost laughed.
Instead I said, “And your mother knows both.”
Paul interrupted through the speaker.
“I stopped the transfer.”
Daniel exhaled.
“But we need to freeze outgoing payments immediately.”
“Do it.”
“I’ll need confirmation.”
“Anything.”
While Paul worked, Mark gathered his photographs.
He looked at me.
“There’s one more thing.”
My stomach tightened.
“What now?”
“Linda has another key to this house.”
I nodded.
“We know.”
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“I mean another key.”
Daniel frowned.
“She has the spare.”
“She copied it.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw her do it.”
My pulse quickened.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Why?”
“She said Rachel might change the locks.”
I stared at Daniel.
He looked horrified.
Mark continued.
“I would change them tonight.”
Daniel nodded.
“I can do that.”
“No,” I said.
He turned.
“We’re leaving.”
“What?”
I looked toward Sophie.
“I’m not staying here tonight.”
“Where will you go?”
“My sister’s.”
Daniel’s face fell.
“You mean you and Sophie.”
“Yes.”
He lowered his voice.
“Rachel, please.”
“This isn’t punishment.”
“It feels like it.”
“I found your mother abusing our child. Then I learned you investigated me. Then I learned your mother may have helped steal two hundred thousand dollars from your company.”
I grabbed my purse.
“I need one night where I know who is allowed through the door.”
Daniel stared at me.
Then nodded.
“I understand.”
I went upstairs.
Sophie packed her stuffed rabbit and pajamas.
“Are we going to Aunt Megan’s?”
“Yes.”
“Is Daddy coming?”
I looked toward the hallway.
“No.”
Her expression fell.
“Is he in trouble?”
I sat beside her.
“Adults sometimes make choices that hurt people.”
“Did Daddy hurt you?”
The question was so simple.
The answer wasn’t.
“Yes.”
“Did he mean to?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She leaned against me.
“Do you still love him?”
My eyes burned.
“Yes.”
“Then why are we leaving?”
“Because loving somebody doesn’t mean pretending everything is okay.”
She thought about that.
Then nodded.
We carried our bags downstairs.
Daniel stood near the door.
He looked exhausted.
“Sophie.”
She stopped.
He crouched.
“Can I hug you?”
I watched her.
The choice needed to be hers.
She nodded.
Daniel hugged her tightly.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
His face crumpled.
“For not listening sooner.”
Sophie whispered, “Grandma said you wouldn’t believe me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“She was wrong.”
Sophie stepped back.
“Are you mad at Grandma?”
“Yes.”
“Are you mad at Mommy?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
Then him.
“You looked mad before.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I was confused.”
She said something that neither of us expected.
“You should believe Mommy before strangers.”
Daniel stared at her.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
We left.
At Megan’s apartment, Sophie finally fell asleep around midnight.
Megan and I sat at her tiny kitchen table.
She poured coffee.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“You know what I mean.”
I told her everything.
When I finished, Megan didn’t speak for a long time.
Then she said, “There’s something you need to know.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Linda called me last month.”
My heart sank.
“Why?”
“She asked whether you had somewhere to stay if your marriage ended.”
I stared.
“What did you say?”
“I told her to mind her business.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought she was being dramatic.”
“What else did she ask?”
Megan looked uncomfortable.
“She asked about your savings.”
I felt sick.
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
Megan hesitated.
“She asked whether Sophie could stay with me if you were hospitalized.”
The room became silent.
“Hospitalized?”
“That was the word she used.”
A cold feeling spread through my body.
“What exactly did she say?”
Megan’s face changed.
“She said, ‘If Rachel has another breakdown and ends up hospitalized, would you keep Sophie temporarily?’”
I stared at her.
“Another breakdown?”
“Yes.”
“I have never been hospitalized.”
“I know.”
“I have never had a breakdown.”
“I know.”
We looked at each other.
And suddenly I understood.
Linda wasn’t simply trying to make Daniel believe I was cheating.
She was building another story.
One where I was unstable.
Neglectful.
Dangerous.
A mother who could lose custody.
My phone vibrated.
Daniel.
I answered.
His voice was shaking.
“Rachel, don’t come home.”
My heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“The back door was open.”
“What?”
“I changed the front lock first. When I went around back, the door was already open.”
“Is someone inside?”
“I called the police.”
“Daniel, get out.”
“I’m outside.”
Then I heard a police officer talking behind him.
Daniel said, “They’re going in.”
I gripped the phone.
Minutes passed.
Then Daniel returned.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
“They found someone.”
My stomach dropped.
“Linda?”
“No.”
“Eric?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Daniel breathed shakily.
“The investigator.”
I frowned.
“Mark?”
“No.”
May you like
He whispered the next words.
“A different investigator.”
