Chapter 2
The ambulance arrived less than six minutes later.
It felt like six hours.
Emily lay on the stretcher while a paramedic checked the baby's heartbeat.
I watched his face.
"Tell me."
He didn't.
"Sir, we're taking her in now."
That answer terrified me more than anything.
I climbed into the ambulance.
Behind us, my mother was still screaming from the porch.
"Ryan! Don't leave us like this!"
I didn't look back.
At the hospital, nurses rushed Emily through double doors.
A woman stopped me outside.
"You'll need to wait here."
"I'm her husband."
"The doctors need room."
The doors closed.
I stood alone in the hallway, covered in my wife's tears and my family's betrayal.
Then my phone rang.
Dad.
I declined it.
He called again.
And again.
Finally, a message appeared.
WE NEED TO TALK BEFORE THE POLICE HEAR EMILY'S VERSION.
I stared at it.
Emily's version?
There wasn't a version.
There was the truth.
Another message came.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S BEEN HIDING.
I almost threw the phone.
Instead, I took screenshots.
Twenty minutes later, a doctor approached me.
"Mr. Carter?"
I jumped up.
"How is she?"
"Your wife is stable."
I nearly collapsed with relief.
"And the baby?"
"The baby's heartbeat is strong."
I closed my eyes.
"But," the doctor continued, "Emily has been under severe stress. We are seeing signs that concern us. She needs observation."
"Can I see her?"
"In a minute."
I swallowed.
"Did they hurt the baby?"
"We can't give you a final answer yet. For now, both mother and baby are stable."
Stable.
I held on to that word.
When I entered Emily's room, she looked smaller than I'd ever seen her.
She reached for my hand.
"I'm sorry."
I stared at her.
"For what?"
"For not telling you."
My chest tightened.
"How long has Chloe been hurting you?"
Emily looked toward the door.
"Not just Chloe."
My blood ran cold.
"My mother?"
She nodded.
"And your father knew."
I sat beside her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because every time I tried, they said you'd think I was trying to break your family apart."
"They broke it."
Emily began crying.
"They kept saying I owed them."
"Why?"
She hesitated.
"Because of the inheritance."
I remembered the argument.
Emily's grandmother had died five months earlier and left her a trust worth nearly two million dollars.
Emily hadn't even touched it.
She planned to save most of it for our child.
"My mother said that money belonged to our family," Emily whispered. "Chloe wanted me to invest in her business."
"What business?"
Emily looked at me.
"There isn't one."
I frowned.
"Then where was the money supposed to go?"
"That's what scared me."
She reached toward the bedside cabinet.
"My purse."
I opened it.
Inside was an envelope.
Emily pulled out several printed bank statements.
"I found these three days ago."
I studied the transactions.
My father's name appeared repeatedly.
So did Chloe's.
Transfers.
Loans.
Cash withdrawals.
Accounts I'd never seen before.
One total made me stop breathing.
$684,000.
"What is this?"
Emily wiped her face.
"Money taken from your grandmother's estate."
I stared at her.
"My grandmother?"
"Ryan, I think your family didn't come to stay with us because they lost their house."
That was the story they'd told me.
A failed investment.
Temporary financial trouble.
"They came because they needed somewhere to hide."
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One message.
YOUR WIFE HAS SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T BELONG TO HER.
GIVE IT BACK OR TODAY WILL LOOK LIKE A WARNING.
I showed Emily.
Her face went white.
"Ryan..."
May you like
"What?"
"Chloe said almost the same thing before you came home."
