Chapter 4
Emily stared at the business card.
“No.”
Her voice was barely audible.
Officer Martinez pulled a chair closer.
“You know him?”
“He’s my brother.”
“I understand there’s history between you.”
“History?”
Emily’s face twisted.
“He nearly destroyed my life.”
I looked at her.
She had told me Mark had been arrested for stealing from the family business.
She had testified because she discovered the missing money.
Afterward, he blamed her for his conviction and vanished.
I had never met him.
“What is he doing with my mother?” I asked.
Officer Martinez kept his eyes on Emily.
“Mr. Ellis says he has represented Mrs. Carter for six months.”
“Six months?” I said.
Emily’s face drained of color.
“That started before Ryan’s trip.”
The officer nodded.
“He provided documents claiming Mrs. Carter was concerned about your mental health.”
“What documents?”
“Statements describing mood swings, paranoia, aggressive behavior, and threats involving your unborn child.”
“They’re lies.”
“I believe there are serious questions about their authenticity.”
“Questions?” I stepped forward. “My wife was locked in a room.”
“And we’re investigating that.”
“You found a crib in a locked basement.”
“We did.”
“So arrest my mother.”
Officer Martinez remained calm.
“I understand your anger. But the prosecutor needs evidence that can survive in court. Your mother says the basement room was a storm-safe nursery. She says the cameras were installed because Emily had threatened self-harm.”
“I never threatened that,” Emily said.
“Your brother gave us copies of messages that appear to come from your number.”
Emily looked at me.
“My phone was missing for almost three weeks.”
I understood immediately.
“My mother sent the messages.”
“That’s one possibility,” the officer said. “We’re requesting records from the phone provider.”
“Where is Diane now?”
“She was released pending further investigation.”
I felt heat rush into my face.
“You let her go?”
“She agreed to stay away from your home and from both of you.”
“She agreed?”
I laughed bitterly.
“She forged a legal document and stole medication. Her promises mean nothing.”
“We recovered the medication. Some pills are unaccounted for.”
Emily looked toward him.
“What do you mean?”
“The prescription bottle should have contained thirty tablets. We found twelve.”
“I had taken six.”
“Then twelve are missing.”
My mind returned to the basement.
“What else did you find down there?”
Officer Martinez hesitated.
“A suitcase containing women’s clothing, cash, and a bus ticket.”
Emily stared at him.
“What size were the clothes?”
He checked his notes.
“They appear to be your size.”
The room became silent.
“A bus ticket to where?” I asked.
“Phoenix. Departure date next Monday.”
Emily touched the hospital blanket.
“My brother lives in Phoenix.”
A terrible pattern formed in front of me.
Fake messages.
A missing bottle of medication.
A suitcase.
A one-way ticket.
A locked nursery.
“They were going to make it look like Emily ran away,” I said.
Officer Martinez didn’t confirm it.
He didn’t have to.
Emily began crying quietly.
“I need to see our baby.”
A nurse entered and helped move her bed toward the NICU.
I walked beside her, but my mind stayed trapped in the basement.
My mother had planned every detail.
She had intended to take our daughter.
And she had chosen Emily’s own brother to help her.
At the NICU, Emily placed her hand against the incubator.
“We should name her Grace,” she whispered.
I stood behind her.
“My grandmother’s name.”
“I remember.”
“Grace survived everything.”
Emily looked at our daughter.
“So will she.”
Grace moved one tiny hand.
For a moment, the world narrowed to the three of us.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
You always were easy to fool, Ryan.
A photograph followed.
It showed me standing outside a hotel in Denver during my business trip.
A woman was beside me.
She was one of our regional managers, but the angle made us look intimate.
Another photograph arrived.
This one showed her touching my arm.
Then came a message.
Tell Emily the truth before I do.
I showed the phone to Officer Martinez, who was still nearby.
“Is that Mark?” I asked.
“We’ll trace it.”
Emily had seen the photograph.
Her face changed.
“Who is she?”
“Rachel Morgan. She manages the Denver office.”
“Why was she touching you?”
“She handed me my room key after checking in the team.”
“You stayed at the same hotel?”
“The whole team did.”
Officer Martinez looked at me.
“Were you ever alone with her?”
“No.”
My answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
Emily noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
I took a breath.
“Rachel kissed me once.”
Her face went still.
“When?”
“The first night.”
“You never told me.”
“I pushed her away.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It happened in an elevator. She apologized. I told her it could never happen again.”
“And then you spent three more weeks traveling with her?”
“She was part of the project.”
Emily looked back at Grace.
“You should leave.”
“Emily—”
“Please.”
I wanted to explain.
I wanted to tell her that the kiss had meant nothing.
But after everything she had said about my mother, I understood that deciding what mattered was not my right.
I had hidden something because I wanted to avoid a difficult conversation.
My silence had given Mark a weapon.
I stepped into the hallway.
Officer Martinez followed.
“Could Rachel be involved?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
I thought about the hotel.
Rachel had known my schedule.
She had known my return flight had been delayed.
She had been surprised when I left early.
“I don’t know.”
“Give me her contact information.”
I did.
Then I called our home security company.
After several verification questions, the representative confirmed that the interior cameras had been added twelve days earlier.
“Who authorized the installation?” I asked.
“A woman named Diane Carter.”
“She isn’t the homeowner.”
“She provided an authorization form with your signature.”
Another forgery.
“Can I access the footage?”
“The account password was changed after the installation.”
“Send a reset link to my email.”
“I’m afraid the email address was also changed.”
“To what?”
“For security reasons, I can only give you a partial address.”
She read the first and last letters.
The address did not belong to my mother.
It belonged to Mark.
I ended the call and told Officer Martinez.
He wrote everything down.
“What aren’t you saying?” I asked.
He looked toward the NICU doors.
“We recovered several videos before the remote account was wiped.”
“Wiped?”
“Someone deleted the remaining footage less than an hour ago.”
“Mark.”
“Possibly.”
“What did the videos show?”
“One shows your mother taking Mrs. Carter’s phone. Another shows an argument in the kitchen.”
“Tuesday night?”
“Yes.”
“Did it show the fall?”
“No. The camera angle doesn’t cover the stairs.”
“But it recorded sound.”
His expression hardened.
“The audio includes Mrs. Carter asking for medical help.”
“And my mother?”
“She tells her to stop performing.”
I gripped the railing.
“Then you have proof.”
“We have evidence.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Proof is what a jury accepts. Evidence is what we build with.”
I hated the answer, even though I understood it.
My phone rang.
Rachel.
I answered on speaker.
“Ryan, what is happening?”
“Did someone contact you about photographs from Denver?”
She went silent.
“Rachel?”
“A man came to the office yesterday.”
“What man?”
“He said he was conducting a background check for a promotion.”
“What did he look like?”
“Late thirties. Tall. Dark hair. He said his name was Mark.”
Officer Martinez leaned closer.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing important. He already knew our travel schedule.”
“Did you give him photographs?”
“No.”
“Did you give him access to my room?”
“What? Of course not.”
“Did you tell him you kissed me?”
Another silence.
Emily had entered the hallway in a wheelchair.
She had heard the question.
Rachel finally spoke.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“He said your wife had filed for divorce. He said she was accusing you of having an affair and that honesty would protect me.”
Emily stared at me.
Rachel continued.
“I’m sorry. I thought he was your attorney.”
“Did you send him messages?”
“I answered questions.”
“What questions?”
“How often we were alone. Whether you seemed unhappy. Whether you talked about Emily.”
Emily’s hand tightened on the wheelchair arm.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth. You said you were worried about her and the baby. You talked about going home early.”
“Then how did he get the photographs?”
“I don’t know.”
Officer Martinez took over.
“Ms. Morgan, do not delete anything. An investigator will contact you.”
After the call ended, Emily looked exhausted.
“They were building cases against both of us.”
I nodded.
“Your mother wanted Grace.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily’s eyes filled with a new kind of fear.
“Then ask her.”
As if summoned by those words, the elevator doors opened.
Diane stepped into the hallway carrying flowers.
Mark walked beside her.
He wore an expensive gray suit and a calm smile.
Emily stopped breathing.
Mark looked directly at his sister.
“Hello, Em.”
I moved between them.
“You need to leave.”
Diane held up the flowers.
“I came to see my granddaughter.”
“You don’t have a granddaughter.”
Her face hardened.
“That baby is my blood.”
“She is our daughter.”
Mark placed a hand on Diane’s shoulder.
“Ryan, threats won’t help your situation.”
“My situation?”
“You concealed an affair. Your wife has a documented history of emotional instability. And now a premature infant is fighting for her life because Emily refused proper care.”
Emily stood from the wheelchair.
She was weak, but her voice was clear.
“I begged for care.”
Mark smiled at her.
“You always were good at rewriting history.”
Officer Martinez stepped forward.
“You were both instructed to stay away.”
Diane looked at him innocently.
“I was told to stay away from their home. No one said I couldn’t visit the hospital.”
Mark lifted a folder.
“We’re filing an emergency petition.”
“For what?” I asked.
“Temporary guardianship of Grace.”
Emily made a broken sound.
I stepped toward Mark.
Officer Martinez blocked me.
“Don’t.”
Mark’s smile widened.
Diane looked past me toward the NICU.
“I told you, Emily. A woman like you was never going to raise my grandchild.”
Then an alarm began sounding behind the NICU doors.
May you like
A doctor ran toward Grace’s incubator.
Emily turned and screamed our daughter’s name.
