Chapter 4
Diane disappeared before police could question her again.
Her phone went off.
Her car was gone.
Ryan claimed he did not know where she was.
Nobody believed him.
Especially me.
Grace remained in the NICU.
Every hour made her stronger.
Every message from investigators made my old life look darker.
Captain Harris returned that afternoon with a detective from the local police department.
Detective Maria Torres placed three folders on the table.
“Emily, we need to ask about your finances.”
“I already told Captain Harris I didn’t sign those documents.”
“We believe you.”
She opened the first folder.
The forged signature appeared on loan applications.
The second contained bank transfers.
The third held something worse.
A copy of my late father’s trust.
I stared at it.
“My father left me money?”
Mom looked away.
I turned toward her.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred thousand dollars.”
I almost stopped breathing.
“Where is it?”
Torres answered.
“Mostly gone.”
My chair scraped backward.
“No.”
“Approximately three hundred twenty thousand dollars was transferred over eighteen months.”
“To Ryan?”
“To accounts connected to him.”
I turned toward my mother.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about the trust?”
“You were supposed to receive control at thirty.”
“I’m twenty-nine.”
“Your father created safeguards.”
“Apparently not enough.”
Mom flinched.
I hated seeing it.
But I was furious.
Everyone had known something about my life except me.
Ryan knew about the money.
My mother knew about the money.
My father had planned for it.
I had been living inside a house full of secrets.
“How did Ryan even know?”
Nobody answered.
Then Detective Torres slid a photograph toward me.
It showed Ryan with a man outside a casino.
I recognized him immediately.
“Uncle Mark?”
Mom’s face changed.
Mark was my father’s younger brother.
He had attended my wedding.
He had hugged Ryan like family.
“He was one of the trustees,” Mom said quietly.
Torres nodded.
“We believe he disclosed information about the trust.”
“Why?”
“We’re still investigating.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number again.
Torres gestured.
“Answer it. Speaker.”
I pressed the button.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then Diane’s voice.
“You should have apologized.”
My body went rigid.
“Where are you?”
“You’ve always been disrespectful.”
“You threatened my baby.”
“I threatened nobody.”
“We have the messages.”
She laughed softly.
“You think everything is about you.”
Mom moved closer to the phone.
“Diane, this is Rebecca Bennett.”
Diane went quiet.
Mom’s voice turned cold.
“If you approach my daughter or granddaughter, law enforcement will respond.”
“You think your rank scares me?”
“No. But prison should.”
Diane hung up.
Torres immediately started tracing procedures through her department.
Then a nurse appeared at the door.
“Emily?”
My heart jumped.
“Grace?”
“She’s okay.”
I nearly collapsed with relief.
“But there’s a woman at the NICU desk claiming she’s the baby’s grandmother.”
Every person in the room froze.
Mom moved first.
“Lock the unit.”
The nurse grabbed her radio.
Torres ran into the hallway.
I followed despite the pain in my abdomen.
“Emily, stay back!”
I ignored her.
We reached the NICU entrance.
Two security guards were standing beside a woman.
For one terrified second, I expected Diane.
It wasn’t her.
The woman was younger.
Late thirties.
Dark hair.
Shaking hands.
She looked at me and began crying.
“Emily?”
“Who are you?”
She glanced at Mom.
Then back at me.
“My name is Laura.”
“I don’t know you.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“But I know Ryan.”
My stomach tightened.
Torres stepped between us.
“How?”
Laura looked ashamed.
“Because he told me his wife was dying.”
The hallway went completely silent.
I stared at her.
“What did you say?”
Tears rolled down her face.
“He told me you had a terminal heart condition.”
I almost laughed.
Instead, I whispered, “I’m pregnant.”
“I know that now.”
She covered her mouth.
“He said the pregnancy would kill you.”
My mother’s expression became frighteningly still.
Laura looked toward the NICU doors.
“And he told me after you died…”
May you like
She could barely finish.
“…we were going to raise your baby together.”
