Chapter 4
I stared at her.
"Lena stays? Absolutely not."
"Then we all go in together," Margaret said, already moving toward the office door. "Right now."
I thought quickly.
The office. The locked room I hadn't entered since the day they told me Grant was dead.
I had kept it locked because I wasn't ready. Wasn't ready to see his desk, his chair, the smell of his cologne still lingering in the air. Wasn't ready to face the reality that he was gone.
But now Margaret was here, in my house, threatening my daughter, and I had no choice.
"Fine," I said. "Thirty minutes. Lena stays. You wait outside."
Margaret looked at me, then at Lena.
"Don't let her hide anything," she said to Lena. "If you see her put something in her pocket or sneak it out, you call me immediately."
Lena nodded, her eyes downcast.
Margaret walked to the door, then turned back.
"And Audrey? If that will exists and you destroy it, I will make sure you never see Poppy again. Do you understand me?"
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Get out," I whispered.
She left, closing the door behind her.
The house was quiet.
Lena stood in the middle of my living room, her hands on her stomach, looking like she wanted to disappear.
Poppy clung to my leg, watching her.
"Who is she, Mommy?"
I took a deep breath.
"This is Lena. She's... a friend of Daddy's."
Lena looked at Poppy, and for a moment, I saw something in her eyes. Sadness. Regret.
"Hi," Lena said softly.
Poppy didn't say anything. She just buried her face in my jeans.
I stroked her hair.
"Can you go play in your room for a little while, baby? Mommy needs to talk to Lena."
Poppy looked up at me, then at Lena, then nodded. She ran down the hallway to her room, closing the door softly behind her.
I turned to Lena.
"Where is the key?" she asked quietly.
I looked at her. Really looked at her.
She couldn't have been more than twenty-two. Her clothes were cheap, her shoes scuffed. Her hands trembled slightly as she rested them on her belly.
"You don't want to be here, do you?" I said.
She looked away.
"Margaret said... she said if I help her find the will, she'll take care of me and the baby. A house. Money. Everything we need."
"And if you don't?"
Lena's eyes filled with tears.
"She said she'll make sure I get nothing. That Grant's family will disown the baby. That he'll grow up with nothing."
I stared at her.
Margaret was using her. Using this scared young girl and her unborn baby as pawns in her game.
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I walked to the kitchen drawer where I kept the office key. My hand trembled as I picked it up.
"Come on," I said.
