Chapter 3
I stared at the envelope in Adrian’s hand.
For a moment, I honestly thought I had misunderstood him.
“What did you say?”
“She already knows.”
My voice sounded distant.
“She told me she didn’t.”
Adrian gave a bitter laugh.
“Emily tells people what she needs them to believe.”
I stepped closer.
“You don’t get to stand there and judge her.”
His expression hardened.
“No. I suppose that’s your job now.”
I grabbed the envelope.
“Watch yourself.”
He didn’t move.
I tore it open.
Inside was a folded sheet from a private laboratory.
My eyes jumped over words I couldn’t process.
Noninvasive prenatal paternity analysis.
Maternal sample.
Alleged paternal sample.
Probability.
Exclusion.
I forced myself to read.
Then I saw the result.
Adrian Cole was excluded as the biological father.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
My knees weakened.
I leaned against the hood of a parked car.
Adrian wasn’t the father.
That should have brought relief.
Instead, a new kind of anger rushed through me.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since June.”
June.
Four months.
Four months before our son was born.
Four months of watching me wonder about nothing because I didn’t even know there was something to wonder about.
I looked at Adrian.
“Why do you have this?”
“Because I paid for it.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me the baby might be mine.”
“And when it wasn’t?”
His mouth tightened.
“I told her to tell you everything.”
I laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t care what you believe.”
“You slept with my wife.”
“Yes.”
The immediate answer almost stunned me.
No excuse.
No denial.
No pretending.
He continued.
“I did it six years ago, and I did it again this year. I’m not proud of either one.”
“You should be ashamed.”
“I am.”
“Not enough to stop.”
He looked away.
“No.”
That honesty made me hate him more.
I held up the paper.
“If you knew the baby wasn’t yours, why are you texting her congratulations?”
“Because I still care about her.”
I stepped forward.
“You’d better stop.”
“James.”
“Stop saying my name.”
“Emily and I ended things in June.”
I stared at him.
“The messages are from last week.”
“I said we ended the affair. I didn’t say we stopped talking.”
“Why?”
His eyes shifted toward the hospital.
“Because she wouldn’t let go.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re blaming her?”
“No.”
“Sounds like it.”
“I’m telling you what happened.”
“Then explain the name.”
For the first time, he looked genuinely uncomfortable.
“I didn’t know she was going to do that.”
“She named my son after you.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“She told me three days ago.”
My stomach twisted.
“And what did you say?”
“I told her not to.”
That answer landed harder than I expected.
“What?”
“I told her it was cruel.”
I stared at him.
“You expect me to believe you were the reasonable one?”
“No.”
He looked exhausted.
“I expect you to hate me. But I’m not going to lie to you just because the truth makes everyone look bad.”
I folded the paternity report and shoved it into my jacket.
“Why did you message Rachel?”
He went still.
“So she showed you.”
“She showed me.”
“I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At Emily.”
“Then why threaten me?”
“I wasn’t threatening you.”
“He should enjoy it while he can?”
Adrian rubbed his jaw.
“I thought she was going to leave you.”
I felt another blow.
“What?”
“That was the plan.”
The words came slowly.
“She told me after the baby came, she was going to tell you about us and move out.”
I stared at him.
“And move where?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Where?”
“With me.”
The garage seemed to tilt.
“You had a place?”
“No. She wanted us to get one.”
“She wanted to take my child and move in with you?”
“She thought the baby might be mine when we first discussed it.”
“But once the test came back?”
Adrian looked away.
“That changed things.”
“What things?”
“I told her I wasn’t raising another man’s baby.”
I almost hit him then.
My fist tightened so hard my knuckles hurt.
Adrian saw it.
He didn’t step back.
I forced my hand open.
“So when you learned he was mine, you suddenly became honorable?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I realized I didn’t want the life she was planning.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You were happy to sleep with my wife. You just didn’t want the consequences.”
“Yes.”
At least he knew what he was.
I looked toward the hospital.
“Does Susan know about the test?”
“Yes.”
That was another knife.
“Of course she does.”
“She tried to convince Emily to tell you.”
I turned back.
“Don’t defend Susan.”
“I’m not.”
“You all had meetings about my marriage while I was putting together baby furniture.”
Adrian said nothing.
“You know what I was doing in June?”
He shook his head.
“I was working overtime because Emily said she wanted to take twelve weeks off after the baby was born.”
His face changed slightly.
“I didn’t know that.”
“No. Because nobody cared what I was doing.”
I pointed at him.
“You were waiting for my wife to leave me.”
Then toward the hospital.
“She was lying to my face.”
Then I touched the paternity report inside my jacket.
“And her mother was helping hide it.”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
“If you ever say that to me again, I’m going to forget I have something to lose.”
He nodded once.
“Fair.”
I turned away.
“James.”
I stopped.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
I looked over my shoulder.
“What?”
Adrian pulled out his phone.
“Emily borrowed money from me.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
“What?”
“Eight thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“She said she needed it to pay off a credit card before she left.”
I frowned.
“Emily doesn’t have eight thousand dollars in credit card debt.”
“She said she did.”
“She doesn’t.”
Adrian looked at his screen.
“She paid me back last month.”
“With what money?”
“I don’t know.”
My heart started pounding again.
Our savings account.
We had almost thirty thousand dollars set aside for emergencies and maternity leave.
Emily handled most of our online banking because she worked from home and paid the bills.
I pulled out my phone.
Opened the banking app.
Entered my password.
The balance loaded.
I stared.
Nine thousand, four hundred and twelve dollars.
I refreshed.
Same number.
There should have been more than twenty-six thousand.
I opened recent transactions.
Transfers.
Cash withdrawals.
Payments to an account I didn’t recognize.
I felt cold.
“What the hell?”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What?”
I moved the phone away.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
But my mind was racing.
In less than thirty minutes, I had learned my wife had resumed an affair, hidden a possible paternity issue, taken a prenatal DNA test without telling me, planned to leave me, and somehow moved almost seventeen thousand dollars from our savings.
My phone rang again.
Emily.
This time I answered.
“James.”
Her voice was shaky.
“Where are you?”
“Parking garage.”
There was a pause.
“With Adrian?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
Emily inhaled sharply.
“Please come upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to explain.”
“You’ve had months.”
“I was scared.”
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
At least she admitted that much.
I looked at the hospital.
“Did you know Adrian wasn’t the father?”
Silence.
“Emily.”
“Yes.”
The word nearly knocked the air out of me.
“Since June?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I thought if I told you everything, I’d lose you.”
“You decided lying was better?”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
My voice rose.
“This wasn’t one mistake. This was hundreds of choices.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
I looked at Adrian.
He was staring at the concrete floor.
I walked farther away from him.
“Where is the money?”
Emily stopped crying.
That told me everything.
“What money?”
“Our savings.”
“James—”
“Where is it?”
“I can explain that too.”
My heart sank.
“How much did you take?”
No answer.
“How much?”
“About seventeen thousand.”
I clenched my jaw.
“For what?”
“I needed options.”
“Options?”
“In case I had to leave.”
“You stole our emergency fund so you could leave me?”
“I didn’t steal it. It was our money.”
“Then why hide it?”
Silence.
“Where is it now?”
“Some of it is in another account.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
“And the rest?”
Another pause.
“I paid some things.”
“What things?”
“Please come upstairs.”
“No.”
“James, please.”
“Tell me now.”
She whispered, “I put a deposit on an apartment.”
My stomach tightened.
“With Adrian?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“For me.”
“And my son?”
She began crying again.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
“But you were planning to take him.”
“I was planning to protect myself.”
“From what?”
She said nothing.
I felt something inside me change.
This wasn’t just pain anymore.
It was clarity.
“Did you tell anyone I was dangerous?”
Silence.
I suddenly remembered small comments over the past few months.
Emily telling Susan I had been “stressed.”
Emily joking to Rachel that I was becoming “controlling” because I asked why she kept changing passwords.
Emily telling me I was paranoid when I asked why she had started sleeping with her phone under her pillow.
“Emily.”
“No.”
“That pause was too long.”
“I never said you were dangerous.”
“What did you say?”
“That we were having problems.”
“We weren’t having problems.”
“You thought we weren’t.”
The cruelty of that sentence hit me.
“Okay.”
“James—”
“No. I understand.”
“You don’t.”
“I understand enough.”
I ended the call.
Adrian watched me.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“Did she ever tell you I scared her?”
His face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
I walked toward him.
“What did she tell you?”
“She said you had a temper.”
“I have never touched her.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you I threatened her?”
“No.”
“What did she say?”
Adrian hesitated.
“That you were becoming suspicious.”
I laughed without humor.
“I wonder why.”
“She said you checked her location.”
“I checked her location after she disappeared for five hours when she was seven months pregnant.”
He didn’t answer.
“She told me her phone died.”
Adrian looked away.
My stomach dropped.
“You were with her.”
“Yes.”
Of course.
I walked away before I did something stupid.
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was Rachel.
I’m here. Ground floor lobby.
I started toward the elevators.
Adrian called after me.
“James.”
I turned.
“If you’re smart, you’ll protect yourself.”
I stared at him.
“You’re the last person I need advice from.”
“I know.”
He placed his hands in his pockets.
“But Emily has been preparing for months.”
I said nothing.
May you like
Then he added the sentence that followed me all the way back to the hospital.
“You’re only finding out today.”
