Chapter 2
“What did I do?”
My voice came out quieter than I expected.
Ryan didn’t notice.
“My mother is crying in her car, Emily. She says you attacked her and threw her into the street.”
I stared at Ethan.
He was listening.
Lily had stopped eating.
“I came home and found your mother throwing food at Lily because she was hungry.”
Silence.
Then Ryan sighed.
Not shocked.
Not furious.
A sigh.
Like I was exhausting him.
“Mom told me Lily had been throwing tantrums all day.”
“She is four.”
“She needs rules.”
“Rules don’t include starvation.”
“Don’t use that word.”
I almost laughed.
“Which word would you prefer?”
“Emily.”
“No. Tell me.”
He lowered his voice.
“My mother raised three children.”
“And today she refused food to two of mine.”
“That’s not what happened.”
Ethan pushed his chair back.
“Dad!”
Ryan stopped talking.
Ethan came closer to the phone.
“Grandma didn’t feed us breakfast.”
“Buddy—”
“She ate pancakes.”
My heart twisted.
“She told Lily she was too annoying to eat.”
“Ethan, maybe you misunderstood.”
“I didn’t!”
His voice cracked.
“She made Lily watch her eat!”
Ryan went silent again.
This time longer.
I thought maybe the truth had finally reached him.
Then he said something that made my blood run cold.
“Put your mom back on.”
Ethan stared at the phone.
I took it.
“What?”
“We’ll discuss this when I get home tomorrow.”
“She isn’t coming back inside.”
“I didn’t say she was.”
“Good.”
“But you shouldn’t have hit her.”
I looked at Lily’s stained dress.
“She raised a plate over Ethan’s head.”
“You could have handled it differently.”
“Ryan, if I had arrived thirty seconds later, what would she have done?”
He didn’t answer.
Then I heard a soft voice behind him.
A woman.
“Ryan? Are you coming?”
My whole body went still.
He immediately covered the phone, but not fast enough.
“Who was that?”
“Someone from the conference.”
“At eleven at night?”
“We’re working.”
“You told me tonight’s meeting ended at eight.”
“Emily, not now.”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
Three seconds later, Diane started pounding on the front window.
“Emily!”
I opened the curtain but not the door.
She stood outside with her suitcase.
Her eyes were dry now.
No tears.
She held up her phone.
“You think you won?”
I closed the curtain.
Then another message appeared on my phone.
It came from Diane.
A photograph.
Ryan was sitting in a restaurant.
Beside him was a woman I recognized immediately.
Jessica Cole.
His new executive assistant.
Her hand rested on Ryan’s arm.
The timestamp was from the previous night.
Another photograph arrived.
Ryan and Jessica entering a hotel elevator.
I felt sick.
Then Diane sent one sentence.
Let me back inside, and maybe your children never need to know why their father really left town.
I read it twice.
Ethan appeared beside me.
“Mom?”
I locked my phone.
“You and Lily are sleeping in my room tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you close.”
He nodded.
Then he looked toward the front door.
“Grandma has another key.”
My heartbeat stopped.
“What?”
“She told me.”
I turned toward the kitchen.
May you like
The spare key hook was empty.
At that exact moment, someone tried the lock.
