Chapter 3
The officer played the recording in the living room.
My voice came through Ryan’s phone.
“I swear, one day you’re going to wake up and wish you had never met me.”
Then Ryan’s voice.
“Are you threatening me?”
My voice again.
“Maybe I am.”
The recording stopped.
Diane stood near the doorway with another officer.
Her smile returned.
“There,” she said. “You heard her.”
I stared at the phone.
I remembered that argument.
It happened four months earlier.
But Ryan had cut out everything before it.
The insults.
The screaming.
The moment he grabbed my car keys and refused to let me leave.
“He edited it.”
Ryan laughed from across the room.
“Of course she says that.”
I looked at the officer.
“Check the original file.”
“We will.”
“Check the date too. He recorded me without telling me.”
Ryan shrugged.
“That’s not illegal here.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Maybe not. Forging insurance documents is.”
Ryan’s smile disappeared.
Diane spun toward her husband.
“What did you say?”
Thomas held up the insurance paperwork.
Ryan went white.
For the first time that night, he looked afraid.
“Where did you get that?”
“That’s your question?”
“You went through my private files?”
“You forged Emily’s signature.”
“That policy was part of our financial planning.”
I stared at him.
“Financial planning?”
Ryan finally looked at me.
“We talked about life insurance.”
“No, we didn’t.”
“We did.”
“When?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Thomas handed the documents to the officer.
“I want these examined.”
Ryan’s voice rose.
“Dad, stay out of this.”
“I stayed out of too much already.”
Diane rushed toward Thomas.
“You’re destroying our son’s life over her?”
Thomas turned.
“Over her?”
His voice shook with anger.
“Emily has spent years taking care of this family while you treated her like hired help.”
“She turned Ryan against us!”
“No, Diane. You turned Ryan into you.”
The entire room went silent.
Diane’s face hardened.
“You’ll regret saying that.”
Thomas gave a bitter laugh.
“I regret not saying it twenty years ago.”
The officers asked Ryan to step outside again.
He resisted.
Then one officer noticed something in his pocket.
A second phone.
Ryan immediately tried to hide it.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
The officer held out her hand.
“Sir.”
Ryan refused.
Thomas stared at him.
“Give it to her.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
Finally, he surrendered the phone.
It was locked.
The officer asked for the passcode.
Ryan declined.
“That’s my work phone.”
I had never seen it before.
But Diane had.
I saw recognition flash across her face.
Ryan noticed too.
“Mom.”
One word.
A warning.
Diane looked away.
My stomach dropped.
“You know about that phone.”
“No.”
“You just reacted to it.”
“I did not.”
I stepped closer.
“What have you two been hiding?”
Ryan shouted, “Enough!”
The officer moved between us.
“Sir, calm down.”
Ryan pointed at me.
“She’s trying to destroy this family.”
“No,” I said. “I’m trying to find out whether I ever had one.”
Thomas suddenly looked at Diane.
“Did you know about Lauren?”
Diane said nothing.
That silence answered everything.
I felt like I had been punched.
“You knew.”
Diane finally lifted her chin.
“My son deserves happiness.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“For two years?”
“You were never enough for him.”
Thomas slammed his palm onto the table.
“Get out.”
Diane smiled coldly.
“You think Lauren is the worst secret?”
Ryan’s face changed.
“Mom, shut up.”
Everyone turned toward her.
Diane looked directly at me.
“You want the truth, Emily?”
“Diane,” Ryan warned.
May you like
She ignored him.
“Ask your husband what happened the night your mother died.”
