Chapter 6
Emily placed the call on speaker.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
Natalie was silent for several seconds.
“When Mark and I got married, he talked constantly about building a family legacy. He said children didn’t belong only to their parents. They belonged to the strongest branch of the family.”
Sarah frowned.
“That sounds like Mark.”
“It became worse after our daughter was born,” Natalie continued. “He controlled everything. Her feedings. Her doctors. Who could hold her. He kept records of every mistake I made.”
“What happened to your baby?” Emily asked.
Natalie’s breathing changed.
“Her name was Ava.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She was seven weeks old when I woke up and found her unresponsive.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Was Mark with you?”
“He said he had been asleep downstairs. But the night before, he gave me something for anxiety. I could barely wake up.”
I felt sick.
“Were there sedatives in your system?” Sarah asked.
“Yes. More than I was prescribed.”
“And the police?”
“Mark told them I was depressed and careless. He gave them messages that made me sound unstable.”
“The same thing he’s doing to Emily,” I said.
Natalie began crying again.
“I didn’t write those messages.”
“Why wasn’t he charged?”
“His attorney said I had confused my medication. The death was ruled accidental.”
Emily touched her stomach as if Grace were still inside.
“What does Diane have to do with this?”
“I found letters after Ava died. Diane and Mark had been communicating for months.”
“Why?”
“They met in an online support group for parents who believed their adult children had turned against them.”
Sarah let out a bitter laugh.
“Of course they did.”
“Diane wrote about Ryan. She said he had become weak after meeting a woman from a corrupt family.”
Emily’s face tightened.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Natalie continued.
“Mark told her you had betrayed your family by testifying against him. Diane told Mark she could help punish you.”
I gripped the edge of the bed.
“They planned this before our wedding?”
“I don’t know how far back the plan goes. But Diane knew exactly who you were when Ryan introduced you.”
I remembered that dinner.
My mother had been unusually warm.
She had asked Emily detailed questions about her family.
Later, she told me Emily was perfect.
At the time, I had felt relieved.
Now every memory felt poisoned.
“Why would Diane want Grace?” I asked.
“Because she believes Emily stole Ryan from her,” Natalie said. “And Mark believes Emily stole his future when she testified. Grace is their way of taking something from both of you.”
Sarah stood.
“We need you to make a sworn statement.”
“I already wrote one.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Mark knows you contacted us.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Someone entered my apartment yesterday.”
Emily looked toward the door.
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
A hard sound came through the phone.
Natalie gasped.
Then the line went dead.
“Natalie?” Emily called.
No answer.
Sarah dialed again.
The phone went directly to voicemail.
“We need her location,” I said.
Sarah nodded.
“I’ll contact the Phoenix police.”
Officer Martinez returned twenty minutes later.
He listened to our account and requested an emergency trace.
The number was prepaid, but the last signal placed it near a bus terminal outside Richmond.
Natalie wasn’t in Phoenix.
She was close to us.
Police searched the area.
They found the phone beneath a bench.
There was no sign of Natalie.
By morning, the hospital blood results arrived.
Emily had a sedative in her system.
The amount was low because several days had passed, but Dr. Patel said the remaining concentration suggested repeated exposure.
It was enough for Officer Martinez to obtain another warrant.
Diane’s car was located outside Mark’s hotel.
Inside the trunk, police found a box of herbal tea packets.
Several had been opened and resealed.
The laboratory would need time to confirm what was inside.
But the officers also found a second phone.
It contained messages between Mark and Diane.
Most were coded.
One message sent Tuesday night read: The stubborn one is bleeding. Should I move to the next step?
Mark’s reply came two minutes later.
Not until the documents are signed.
Another message from Diane read: She keeps asking for Ryan.
Mark answered: Remind her he chose work.
I read the exchange three times.
Each time, the words hurt more.
My mother knew exactly how to break Emily.
She had used my absence as a weapon.
Officer Martinez arrested Diane before noon.
Mark was not in his hotel room.
His suitcase remained there, but his passport and laptop were gone.
A statewide alert was issued.
When Diane learned Mark had disappeared, she demanded to speak to me.
I refused.
Then Sarah told me the guardianship petition had not been withdrawn.
“His firm can continue without him,” she explained.
“Even after Diane’s arrest?”
“An arrest is not a conviction.”
The emergency hearing was held by video because Emily remained hospitalized.
Diane appeared from a detention room.
Her wrists were cuffed beneath the table.
She wore no makeup.
Without her carefully arranged appearance, she looked smaller.
But she did not look sorry.
The judge reviewed the filings.
Sarah presented the video of Diane taking Emily’s phone.
She presented the delivery photograph showing Emily locked outside.
She presented the forged power of attorney and the preliminary toxicology result.
Mark’s associate argued that Diane had acted out of concern.
He called the sedative finding inconclusive.
Then he claimed I had abandoned my wife for another woman.
I testified about Rachel.
I admitted the kiss.
Emily’s face remained unreadable.
I told the judge I had rejected Rachel immediately.
Then Sarah asked the question I feared.
“Why didn’t you tell your wife?”
“Because I was a coward.”
The opposing attorney smiled.
Sarah did not.
“Did you have an affair?”
“No.”
“Did you instruct your mother to control Emily’s medication or movement?”
“No.”
“Did you know cameras had been installed?”
“No.”
“Do you believe Diane should have any authority over Grace?”
“Never.”
When Emily testified, Diane watched her with a faint smile.
Emily described the locked bedroom.
The missing phone.
The tea.
The bleeding.
She did not raise her voice.
She did not exaggerate.
That made her words more powerful.
Then Diane’s attorney asked whether Emily had ever screamed at her.
“Yes.”
“Thrown an object?”
“I knocked a mug off the counter while trying to get my phone.”
“Threatened to keep Diane away from her grandchild?”
“Yes.”
The attorney nodded as if he had proven something.
Emily leaned closer to the camera.
“I threatened to keep her away after she said she would teach my baby to hate me.”
Diane’s smile vanished.
The judge denied the guardianship petition.
He issued a temporary protective order for Emily and Grace.
I expected relief.
Instead, I felt only exhaustion.
As the hearing ended, Diane requested permission to speak.
The judge warned her to be brief.
She looked into the camera.
“Ryan, ask your wife what she did with the first baby.”
Emily froze.
I turned toward her.
“What is she talking about?”
Diane smiled.
“You didn’t tell him?”
The judge cut the connection.
The screen went black.
Emily stared at the empty monitor.
“Emily?”
She began shaking.
Sarah moved beside her.
“You don’t have to answer now.”
“Yes, she does,” I said, then immediately regretted my tone.
Emily flinched.
I softened my voice.
“What did Diane mean?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“When I was nineteen, I was pregnant.”
My chest tightened.
“You never told me.”
“I lost the baby.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head.
“That isn’t all.”
Sarah looked away.
She knew.
Emily gripped the blanket.
“Mark was furious when he found out I was pregnant. Our parents were dead, and he controlled the money they left us. He said a baby would ruin everything.”
“What did he do?”
“He took me to a clinic.”
“You wanted an abortion?”
“No.”
The word came out as a sob.
“I wanted my baby.”
I sat beside her.
“Did he force you?”
“He told me I was signing insurance papers. I was terrified and alone. The nurse gave me medication. By the time I understood, it was too late.”
I felt as if the air had been ripped from the room.
“Why wasn’t he arrested?”
“I tried to report him. He said I was lying because I regretted the procedure. There was no proof.”
Sarah placed a hand on Emily’s shoulder.
“That was why she started examining the family accounts.”
Emily nodded.
“I found the money Mark had stolen. I testified. He went to prison.”
“And now he wants revenge.”
“He always has.”
My phone rang.
Officer Martinez.
“We found Natalie,” he said.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes, but she’s injured. She was left near a highway.”
“Did she see who attacked her?”
“She says it was Mark.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
A nurse entered before I could ask another question.
Her face was pale.
“Mr. and Mrs. Carter, we have a security issue.”
My heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“Someone attempted to enter the NICU using a stolen identification badge.”
Emily threw off her blanket.
“Grace.”
“The person did not reach her.”
“Who was it?”
The nurse looked at Officer Martinez.
“A man matching Mark Ellis’s description.”
We ran toward the NICU.
Grace was safe inside her incubator.
But taped to the outside of the glass was a photograph.
It showed Emily at nineteen, standing outside a clinic with tears running down her face.
On the back, Mark had written a message.
May you like
You lost one baby.
You’ll lose this one too.
