Chapter 7
I didn’t tell Emily Adrian was across the street.
Not immediately.
At nine in the morning, I was sitting in Mark Delaney’s office with two hours of sleep and a folder thick enough to ruin several lives.
Mark read quietly.
Rachel had stayed with me until sunrise, then gone home to shower and check on her kids.
I had stopped by the hospital for twenty minutes before the meeting.
I held my son.
Emily barely spoke.
Neither did I.
Now Mark reached the home equity documents.
He frowned.
“You are certain this isn’t your signature?”
“Yes.”
“Could you have electronically authorized it from another device?”
“No.”
“Could she have had permission to sign for you?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Then we treat it seriously.”
“I don’t want her arrested.”
“I didn’t say anything about arrest.”
“I’m telling you now.”
Mark removed his glasses.
“James, your instinct is to separate your wife from the consequences because she just had your child.”
“Yes.”
“That is understandable.”
I waited.
“But protecting her from every consequence is part of how people end up in situations like this.”
I didn’t like hearing that.
Maybe because it was true.
“I’m not trying to destroy her.”
“Good.”
“I want my money back. I want my son safe. And I want to know what my options are.”
“Those are reasonable goals.”
He looked at the lease.
“She planned to move out after birth.”
“Yes.”
“With the child.”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell you?”
“No.”
“Has she threatened to keep him from you?”
“No.”
“Has she said she will leave now?”
“No.”
Mark leaned back.
“If you want to separate, the cleanest thing is to establish temporary arrangements immediately.”
“Custody.”
“Parenting time.”
“I hate that phrase already.”
“You’ll hear it a lot.”
I looked toward the window.
“Do courts punish cheating?”
“Not in the way people think.”
“I’m not asking because I want revenge.”
“Good.”
“The money?”
“Different issue.”
He tapped the loan document.
“This matters.”
“So does Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“He pressured her.”
“That may matter depending on what occurred, but it doesn’t automatically erase her decisions.”
“I know.”
Mark studied me.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because everyone thinks I’m about to defend her.”
“Are you?”
I thought about it.
“No.”
Then I corrected myself.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s my son’s mother.”
“That is true whether you stay married or not.”
I looked down.
That sentence settled something inside me.
I didn’t have to save the marriage to protect my son’s mother.
I also didn’t have to destroy her to leave.
“Prepare separation papers,” I said.
Mark nodded.
“Okay.”
My chest tightened.
“I didn’t say divorce.”
“No.”
“Just separation.”
“Understood.”
I exhaled.
“And I want something temporary about the baby.”
“We can draft a proposed agreement.”
“I’m not taking him away from her.”
“You’ve said that.”
“I want it written down.”
Mark almost smiled.
“I understand.”
When I returned to the hospital, Susan was gone.
Rachel had replaced her.
She was holding the baby when I walked in.
“He likes me more than you,” she announced.
I set my bag down.
“He has known you for twenty minutes.”
“Exactly. Fast learner.”
Emily almost smiled.
The room felt strangely normal for half a second.
Then Rachel handed my son to me.
“There’s Dad.”
I held him against my chest.
His eyes fluttered.
Everything else became quieter.
I sat down.
Emily looked tired.
More tired than the day before.
“Did you see a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
Her face went pale.
Rachel looked at me.
“I’m going to get coffee.”
She left.
Emily stared at the blanket.
“So this is happening.”
“I don’t know what ‘this’ is yet.”
“You’re leaving.”
“I’m asking for separation.”
She started crying immediately.
I had expected anger.
Instead, she whispered, “Okay.”
That surprised me.
“Okay?”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“The truth would be a nice change.”
She flinched.
I hated myself a little for saying it.
Not because it was false.
Because I knew exactly where to place the knife.
I looked down at my son.
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
Emily gave a broken laugh.
“You don’t have to try.”
“Neither did you.”
Silence.
I took a breath.
“Mark is drafting a temporary plan.”
“A custody plan.”
“Yes.”
Her face tightened.
“You’re already treating me like I’m losing him.”
“No.”
“You called a lawyer less than twenty-four hours after he was born.”
“Because I discovered you had rented an apartment to take him to without telling me.”
She closed her eyes.
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I decided to stay.”
“When did you decide that?”
“August.”
“The lease was signed in August.”
“Late August.”
“Emily.”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know the exact day.”
I almost said it again.
Truth before discovery.
But I was tired.
“Were you really going to take him and leave while I was at work?”
She covered her mouth.
I waited.
Finally, she nodded.
My stomach tightened even though I already knew.
“How?”
“I was going to have Mom help.”
“Of course.”
“I was going to leave a note.”
“A note.”
“I know.”
“No, I need you to hear this.”
My voice stayed low.
“You were going to let me come home to an empty nursery.”
She cried harder.
“I’m sorry.”
“You were going to take my newborn son and leave me a note.”
“I wasn’t going to keep you from him.”
“How would I have known that?”
She had no answer.
I adjusted the baby against my chest.
He slept through everything.
“I would never do that to you.”
“I know.”
“Even now.”
“I know.”
“That’s why there will be an agreement.”
She nodded through tears.
“Okay.”
Then I said, “Adrian is across the street.”
Her head snapped up.
“What?”
“He checked into the hotel across from the hospital.”
Fear crossed her face.
Real fear.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You talked to him?”
“Yesterday.”
“No, since then?”
“No.”
She reached for her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Blocking him.”
“You haven’t blocked him?”
“I did.”
“Then why are you holding the phone?”
“I wanted to make sure.”
I stared at her.
She turned the screen toward me.
Adrian’s number was blocked.
So was an email address.
Two social media accounts.
Then I saw something else.
A second number.
Also blocked.
“When did he get that?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“He has two numbers?”
“He started using another phone.”
I shook my head.
“This gets worse every ten minutes.”
Emily looked down.
“I know.”
“Claire sent me screenshots.”
Her face drained.
“Claire contacted you?”
“Yes.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Oh God.”
“You knew her name.”
“Yes.”
“How much did you know about her?”
“Not much.”
“You knew they were trying to have a baby?”
Emily looked at me.
“What?”
Apparently not.
I believed her reaction.
“He and Claire were seeing a fertility specialist.”
Emily’s mouth opened.
No sound came out.
“He was trying to have a child with his wife while telling you he might be building a life with you.”
She started shaking her head.
“No.”
“I saw messages.”
“He told me their marriage was over.”
“He lied.”
“I know he lied about being married at first, but he said after I found out—”
“He lied.”
She stared at the wall.
Something inside her broke.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Her shoulders dropped.
Her face went blank.
“He told me she couldn’t have children.”
I said nothing.
“He said that was part of why they were separating.”
I kept holding the baby.
Emily looked at me.
“He told me she didn’t want a family.”
“I’m sorry.”
The words came out before I could stop them.
Emily laughed through tears.
“You’re apologizing to me?”
“I’m sorry he lied to you.”
“After what I did to you?”
“One doesn’t cancel the other.”
She stared at me.
That was the first moment since the birth that we looked at each other without shouting, accusing, or hiding.
Just two people sitting inside the wreckage.
Then her phone vibrated.
Blocked caller.
She froze.
It stopped.
A second later, it rang again.
Blocked caller.
I stood.
“Don’t answer.”
“I’m not going to.”
It stopped.
Then a voicemail notification appeared.
Emily looked at me.
“Should I listen?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
She put it on speaker.
Adrian’s voice filled the room.
“Emily, I know James is there. I know Claire contacted him. You need to call me before he turns you against me. We both made choices. Don’t pretend you’re a victim now. And don’t let him take the baby away from you. Call me.”
The voicemail ended.
Emily looked sick.
I stared at the phone.
“He thinks I’m turning you against him.”
She whispered, “That’s what he always does.”
“What?”
“If I questioned him, he said someone else was influencing me.”
I sat down again.
“Your mother does something similar.”
Emily looked at me.
“I know.”
That answer surprised me.
“You know?”
“She hated Adrian.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“She covered for me because she was scared I’d lose everything.”
“She helped you lie.”
“Yes.”
“But she hated him?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about the money?”
“Some of it.”
“The home equity loan?”
Emily went completely still.
There it was.
She looked at me.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
Tears filled her eyes again.
“James—”
“Did you sign my name?”
She shook her head rapidly.
“No.”
I stared at her.
“Then who did?”
She looked terrified.
“I gave Adrian access to the online application.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“He said he knew how to submit everything.”
“You gave him my information?”
“I thought—”
“What did you give him?”
“My voice stayed controlled, but barely.
“Social Security number?”
She looked down.
“Emily.”
“Yes.”
“Date of birth?”
“Yes.”
“Income?”
“Yes.”
“Passwords?”
“One.”
I stood so fast the chair scraped the floor.
The baby stirred.
I immediately stopped.
Emily whispered, “I’m sorry.”
I looked down at my son.
Then back at her.
“Adrian forged my signature.”
“I didn’t know he was going to do that.”
“But you gave him everything.”
“Yes.”
“For twenty thousand dollars.”
“He told me we would repay it in sixty days.”
“You gave a man you were having an affair with enough information to impersonate me financially.”
“I know.”
I closed my eyes.
“You could have ruined us.”
“I know.”
“Not just me. Him.”
I looked at the baby.
“You could have damaged the house we were supposed to raise him in.”
She cried silently.
I sat again.
I suddenly felt older than I had the day before.
“Emily.”
She looked up.
“You need your own lawyer.”
Her face twisted.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“You think I’m going to be charged with something.”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you didn’t want that.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why?”
“Because I’m done being responsible for everybody’s choices.”
She stared at me.
“I cannot be your husband, your victim, your protector, your financial safety net, and the person who fixes what you did.”
She covered her face.
“I can be his father.”
I looked at our son.
“I can treat you fairly because you’re his mother.”
Then I looked back at her.
“But the rest is yours now.”
She lowered her hands.
For the first time, she didn’t ask me to stay.
She didn’t ask me to forgive her.
She just nodded.
Then someone knocked on the hospital door.
We both looked up.
A nurse entered.
Behind her stood a hospital security officer.
The officer looked at Emily.
“Mrs. Carter?”
“Yes?”
“There’s a man downstairs asking to see you.”
My jaw tightened.
The officer continued.
“He says his name is Adrian Cole.”
Emily went pale.
“I don’t want to see him.”
The officer nodded.
“Okay.”
Then he looked at me.
“He also says he needs to speak with your husband.”
I stared at him.
“Did he say why?”
“Yes.”
The officer hesitated.
“He says he has information about the loan and claims Mrs. Carter is lying about what happened.”
Emily whispered, “No.”
The officer looked between us.
“He says he won’t leave until someone hears him.”
I handed the baby carefully back to Emily.
Then I stood.
She grabbed my wrist.
“James.”
I looked down at her hand.
She released me immediately.
“Don’t go.”
“Why?”
“Because he’ll twist everything.”
“That’s why I want to hear him.”
“James, please.”
May you like
I looked at her.
“I’m done being the last person in the room to know the truth.”
