Chapter 2 - The Mother Who Already Knew
Emma forgot how to breathe.
The black SUV remained behind her.
Its engine was running.
The driver’s face was hidden by the glare of the headlights.
Emma looked at Noah through the rearview mirror.
He was still asleep.
“What plan?” she asked.
Diane was silent.
“Mom.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Then tell me now.”
“Not over the phone.”
“You knew Ryan was sleeping with Lily.”
Another silence.
That was the answer.
Emma felt something inside her go completely cold.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“Emma, please come to my house.”
“How long?”
Diane inhaled shakily.
“Since February.”
It was October.
Eight months.
Emma stared at the blue envelope on her lap.
“You watched me sit beside Lily at Easter dinner.”
“I didn’t know how serious it was then.”
“You watched Ryan give me flowers on our anniversary.”
“I begged him to stop.”
“You watched me bring him into Dad’s company every morning.”
“Emma, I was trying to protect the family.”
“Which one?”
Diane started crying harder.
“Ryan said he was going to leave Lily.”
“He said it was over.”
“Then why does he have custody papers?”
“I didn’t know about those.”
“You told me not to go to the police.”
“Because this is bigger than the affair.”
Emma looked toward the SUV.
“What did he do?”
“Come to the house.”
“Answer me.”
“Your father discovered money missing from Bennett Homes before he died.”
Emma’s pulse quickened.
“Ryan told me Dad made accounting mistakes.”
“Victor did not make mistakes.”
“What are you saying?”
“Your father believed Ryan was stealing.”
The SUV’s driver-side door opened.
Emma started the engine.
“Mom, someone is following me.”
“Do not go home.”
“Where should I go?”
“Your father’s lake house.”
“The locks were changed after he died.”
Diane whispered, “The back door key is under the stone bird.”
A man stepped from the SUV.
He wore a dark coat.
Emma put the car in reverse.
The man raised one hand.
“Mrs. Carter.”
She accelerated backward.
The SUV blocked part of the exit.
Emma turned sharply around a fuel pump.
The man ran toward her.
Noah woke.
“Mommy?”
“It’s okay.”
“Why are we going fast?”
“We’re leaving.”
The car shot onto the road.
The SUV followed.
Emma held the phone against the steering wheel.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told Ryan where I was.”
“No.”
“Did Lily?”
“I haven’t spoken to her.”
Emma checked the mirror.
The SUV remained two cars behind her.
“Call the police.”
Diane’s voice became urgent.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Ryan has friends in the department.”
Emma almost laughed.
“Of course he does.”
“Your father kept evidence at the lake house.”
“What evidence?”
“A red ledger.”
“How do you know?”
“Victor told me the night before his accident.”
Emma gripped the wheel.
Her father had died when his car left a wet road and struck a concrete barrier.
Police called it an accident.
Ryan had handled the insurance.
Ryan had comforted Emma at the funeral.
Ryan had carried Victor’s coffin.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Did Dad believe Ryan caused the accident?”
Diane did not answer.
The SUV moved closer.
Emma turned into a shopping center.
She drove between delivery trucks and exited through the rear lane.
The SUV followed.
Noah started crying.
“Mommy, who are those people?”
“I don’t know, baby.”
She handed him her phone.
“Call Grandma back if the call ends.”
Emma accelerated onto the highway.
The lake house was thirty minutes away.
She could not lead the SUV there.
A police station appeared on the next exit sign.
Emma remembered Diane’s warning.
Ryan has friends in the department.
She also remembered the forged medical report.
If she arrived frightened and angry with custody papers already prepared, they might take Noah.
The SUV drew beside her.
The passenger window lowered.
Emma saw a camera.
The man was recording her.
They wanted footage of reckless driving.
They wanted proof she was unstable.
Emma slowed down.
The SUV slowed too.
She pulled into the parking lot of a crowded twenty-four-hour supermarket.
People were entering and leaving.
Security cameras covered every lane.
Emma parked near the front doors.
She took Noah from the car.
The SUV stopped at the edge of the lot.
The men did not approach.
Emma carried Noah inside.
She purchased a prepaid phone, a child’s jacket, bottled water, and cash from an ATM.
Then she entered the family restroom.
Noah sat on the counter.
“Are we hiding?”
Emma knelt in front of him.
“We’re playing a quiet game.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I know.”
He touched her cheek.
“Did Daddy make you sad?”
Emma swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Did I do something?”
“No.”
She held his face.
“Never.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Emma froze.
“Store security,” a man called.
“Ma’am, your husband is worried.”
Ryan had found her.
She opened the prepaid phone.
There was only one person she could call.
Owen Hayes.
Her father’s former attorney.
Emma had not spoken to him since the funeral because Ryan said Owen had mishandled the estate.
Owen answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“This is Emma Bennett.”
There was a sharp pause.
“Where are you?”
“How did you know something was wrong?”
“Because your father instructed me to wait for your call.”
Emma stared at the wall.
“He died three years ago.”
“I know.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That one day you might discover your marriage was built around a theft.”
The man outside knocked again.
“Mrs. Carter, open the door.”
Owen’s voice became firm.
“Do not open it.”
“They say they’re security.”
“They are not.”
“How do you know?”
“I called the store while you were speaking.”
Emma looked at the bottom of the door.
A shadow blocked the hallway light.
Owen continued.
“There is a service exit behind the pharmacy.”
“My investigator is waiting in a gray minivan.”
“His name is Marcus.”
“He will say the words ‘Victor hated cheesecake.’”
Emma looked at Noah.
The ruined birthday cake was still inside her car.
“What happens if he says anything else?”
“Run.”
The door handle moved.
Emma lifted Noah.
She opened the maintenance panel beside the sink and found a narrow staff corridor.
The lock behind her broke as she entered it.
A man rushed into the restroom.
Emma ran.
She reached the pharmacy stockroom.
An employee opened the service door after Owen called the manager.
A gray minivan waited in the alley.
The driver lowered the window.
“Victor hated cheesecake.”
Emma opened the rear door.
Noah climbed inside.
The minivan sped away seconds before the men emerged from the supermarket.
Owen’s voice remained on the phone.
“Emma, listen carefully.”
“Ryan does not only want your company shares.”
“What else is there?”
“Your father created a trust for Noah.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five percent of Bennett Homes.”
“Ryan already knows that.”
“No.”
“He knows about the public trust.”
“Victor created a second one.”
Emma looked at her sleeping son.
“What is in it?”
“The lake house.”
“Several commercial properties.”
“And evidence that could send Ryan to prison.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
“When can I see it?”
“You were supposed to receive it on your thirty-fifth birthday.”
“That is eleven months away.”
“We can open it early if you prove fraud or immediate danger.”
“I have custody papers.”
“That may be enough.”
Marcus turned onto a dark county road.
The lake appeared beyond the trees.
Owen’s voice dropped.
“There is one more problem.”
“What?”
“Your father named a temporary trustee if anything happened to you.”
Emma already knew the answer.
“Ryan.”
“Yes.”
A message appeared on the prepaid phone.
A photograph of the lake house.
Taken minutes earlier.
May you like
Underneath it were four words.
WE’RE ALREADY WAITING, EMMA.
