Chapter 2
The police arrived eight minutes later.
By then, Ryan and Diane were standing outside the gate with security between them and the house.
Ryan kept shouting my name.
I could hear him through the closed doors.
“Emily!”
“Tell them the truth!”
“You hit me first!”
An officer photographed the red mark on my cheek.
Another examined my burned hand.
“You should have that treated,” she said.
“I will.”
Thomas stood nearby, unusually quiet.
I kept thinking about what he had said.
Something I should have told you years ago.
When the officers finally separated Ryan and Diane for questioning, I turned to Thomas.
“What were you talking about?”
His eyes dropped.
“Not here.”
“Your son just threatened me. Your wife hit me. I’m done waiting for people to decide when I deserve the truth.”
He nodded slowly.
Then he led me into his study.
Thomas closed the door and opened a locked drawer.
Inside was a thick envelope.
My name was written across it.
Emily Carter.
Not Ryan’s last name.
My maiden name.
My stomach tightened.
“What is this?”
“I hired a private investigator three months ago.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because money started disappearing from one of the family accounts.”
I almost laughed.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Ryan was taking it.”
My breath caught.
Thomas handed me several pages.
Bank transfers.
Credit-card statements.
Hotel charges.
A lease for an apartment downtown.
Then I saw a woman’s name.
Lauren Mitchell.
Again.
And again.
And again.
“Who is Lauren?”
Thomas hesitated.
I already knew.
I just needed to hear him say it.
“Ryan has been seeing her.”
The room tilted.
“How long?”
“At least two years.”
I sat down.
Two years.
While I cooked dinner.
While I helped Ryan’s mother after her surgery.
While I skipped vacations because Ryan said money was tight.
While he kissed me goodnight and told me he was working late.
Two years.
“There’s more,” Thomas said.
“Stop.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry and tell me everything.”
He placed another document in front of me.
A life insurance policy.
My name was printed at the top.
Insured: Emily Carter Hayes.
Beneficiary: Ryan Hayes.
The amount made my stomach turn.
Two million dollars.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
I looked closer.
There was a signature.
My signature.
Except it wasn’t mine.
“He forged it.”
Thomas nodded.
My heartbeat became painfully loud.
“Why would Ryan take out a policy on me without telling me?”
“I don’t know.”
But he did know something.
I could see it.
“Thomas.”
His face tightened.
“Last month, Ryan asked me whether accidental death policies were difficult to challenge.”
Every hair on my arms lifted.
I stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
“No.”
“I didn’t understand why he was asking until I found this.”
“No.”
“He also changed the beneficiary information on another account.”
I backed toward the door.
“This is insane.”
Thomas followed.
“Emily, listen to me.”
“No. You listen to me. You knew he was cheating. You knew he was stealing. You knew he forged my name.”
“I was trying to collect enough evidence.”
“And you left me sleeping beside him!”
The words hit him harder than any punch.
Thomas closed his eyes.
“You’re right.”
Suddenly, someone pounded on the study door.
We both froze.
“Mr. Hayes?” the officer called. “We need you out here.”
Thomas opened the door.
The officer’s expression was serious.
“Your son is claiming Mrs. Hayes threatened to kill him.”
I stared at her.
“That’s a lie.”
“I believe we need to look at something first.”
She held up Ryan’s phone.
May you like
“There’s a recording.”
My blood went cold.
