Chapter 7
The next forty-eight hours moved like a storm.
Nora subpoenaed medical records.
Dad hired a private investigator.
Police opened a broader investigation into forged documents and conspiracy.
Ryan called from jail.
I did not answer.
Diane called from a blocked number.
Nora answered for me.
I wish I had seen Diane’s face when Nora said, “All future contact will be treated as witness intimidation.”
Mom came to the hotel on the third day.
Dad almost refused to let her in.
I said yes.
I needed to look at her.
She entered with swollen eyes and shaking hands.
She saw my belly first.
Then my face.
“Emily.”
I did not move.
She sat across from me.
“I was nineteen,” she said. “Steven Vale was my professor. He was married. Powerful. I thought he loved me.”
Dad stood by the window, silent.
Mom continued.
“When I found out I was pregnant, he told me to get rid of you.”
The baby moved inside me.
I pressed my hands there.
“I couldn’t,” Mom whispered. “Michael married me anyway. He loved you before you were born.”
I looked at Dad.
He was crying quietly.
“Diane found out last year,” Mom said. “She said Ryan deserved the truth about the family he married into. Then she said if I didn’t help, she would tell you I had lied your whole life.”
“You did lie.”
“Yes.”
“But Diane hurt me. Ryan hurt me. And you helped.”
Mom bowed her head.
“I know.”
“Did you know about the kennel?”
“No.”
“Did you know they planned to take the baby?”
She sobbed.
“I thought it was only if you had a breakdown.”
I stared at her.
“They were creating one.”
Mom nodded.
May you like
“I see that now.”
“Too late,” I whispered.
