Chapter 7: Someone Was Watching Us
I couldn’t stop staring at the words.
Ava Carter Trust.
One million dollars.
My daughter hadn’t even been born, and Ryan was already planning how to use her name.
Diane sat across from me crying.
Claire stood behind my chair with one hand on my shoulder.
I called Rebecca.
She answered on the second ring.
“Tell me you didn’t open anything from the storage unit.”
“We didn’t.”
“Good.”
“I found something else.”
I sent her photographs of the notebook pages.
There was a long silence.
Then Rebecca said, “Do not write in that notebook. Do not remove pages. Put it somewhere secure.”
“What does the Ava entry mean?”
“I can’t know yet.”
“Can someone open an account in an unborn child’s name?”
“There are structures involving future beneficiaries, but that isn’t the part worrying me.”
“What is?”
“The target amount.”
I swallowed.
“One million.”
“Yes.”
Claire sat down.
Rebecca continued.
“Ryan may have been planning to move assets into something connected to the baby.”
“Why?”
“Possibly to conceal ownership. Possibly to attract investment. Possibly something else.”
My stomach tightened.
“Could he use Ava’s identity?”
“Not legally.”
That word again.
Legally.
Ryan had already crossed that line repeatedly.
Diane whispered, “He kept talking about a family fund.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
She wiped her eyes.
“At Christmas.”
“You never mentioned this.”
“I didn’t think anything of it.”
“What did he say?”
“That once Ava was born, he wanted to create a trust for her.”
“That sounds normal.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
“He asked whether I’d move part of my estate into it.”
Claire frowned.
“How much?”
“He suggested five hundred thousand.”
My jaw dropped.
“You have that kind of money?”
Diane looked embarrassed.
“My husband left me investments.”
Ryan’s father had died six years earlier.
I knew Diane was comfortable.
I didn’t know how comfortable.
“Did you agree?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Something felt wrong.”
I stared at her.
“Something felt wrong about giving him money for Ava, but meeting his pregnant mistress didn’t?”
She flinched.
“I deserve that.”
“I’m not trying to punish you.”
“I know.”
“But I need the truth.”
She nodded.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Ryan was always jealous of you.”
I almost laughed.
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your mother.”
My throat tightened.
“My mother is dead.”
“I know. But even after she died, she protected you.”
I looked at the trust notebook.
Diane continued.
“Ryan hated that the inheritance wasn’t his.”
“He never said that.”
“He said it to me.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
I felt another crack open inside me.
“What exactly did he say?”
“That married people shouldn’t have separate money.”
I remembered saying something similar myself when Mom first explained the trust structure.
She had looked at me across her kitchen table.
“Emily, love your husband. Build with him. Share with him. But never leave yourself without a door.”
I had been offended.
I accused her of distrusting Ryan.
She shook her head.
“This isn’t about Ryan. It’s about you always having a choice.”
At the time, I thought she sounded old-fashioned.
Now I wanted to fall to my knees and thank her.
My mother had given me a door.
Ryan had been trying to lock it.
The next morning, David accompanied Diane to hand over the notebook and storage key to investigators.
I stayed with Claire.
The waiting was torture.
Around noon, Vanessa came over.
It was the first time I had seen her since the mall.
The mark from my slap was gone.
Her confidence was too.
She stood awkwardly in Claire’s doorway holding a small overnight bag.
“My brother had to go out of town for work.”
Claire looked at me.
I looked at Vanessa.
The idea of having my husband’s pregnant mistress stay in the same house as me was absurd.
Then again, nothing about my life was normal anymore.
“You can stay tonight,” I said.
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
She almost smiled.
Neither of us did.
Claire gave her the downstairs office.
For the first hour, we avoided each other.
Then Vanessa came into the kitchen while I was making tea.
She leaned against the counter.
“I keep thinking about the mall.”
“So do I.”
“I thought you knew.”
“I know.”
“I really did.”
“I know.”
She looked at my stomach.
“Is Ava okay?”
“Yes.”
Her hand moved unconsciously toward her own belly.
“I haven’t felt him kick yet.”
“How far are you now?”
“Almost fifteen weeks.”
I nodded.
“Do you have a name?”
She hesitated.
“Ryan wanted Michael.”
“His father’s name.”
Her face changed.
“You knew?”
“Of course.”
She stared at the floor.
“He told me his father abandoned him.”
I laughed once.
“Ryan’s father died of cancer.”
Vanessa looked up sharply.
“What?”
“He was there when Ryan graduated college. He helped us buy our first car. He died six years ago.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“Why would he lie about that?”
“Because a tragic story makes people stop asking questions.”
She sat at the table.
“I feel so stupid.”
“Don’t.”
“You must hate me.”
“I hated you for about ten minutes.”
“That’s fair.”
“Then I realized you were standing in the same trap.”
She looked at me.
“Does that mean you forgive me?”
“No.”
I answered honestly.
“I don’t know you well enough to forgive you. And you still got involved with a married man without seeing a divorce decree.”
She nodded.
“You’re right.”
“But Ryan is responsible for Ryan.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
I handed her a tissue.
It was the strangest moment of my life.
Comforting the woman carrying my husband’s son.
Yet the enemy I had imagined at the mall wasn’t sitting across from me anymore.
She was another woman whose future had been built on Ryan’s lies.
At three, David called.
His voice was serious.
“They executed a search related to the storage unit.”
I sat straighter.
“What was inside?”
“I can’t give you every detail yet.”
“Tell me what affects me.”
“There were multiple boxes of financial records.”
My pulse raced.
“Was mine there?”
“Yes.”
“What was in it?”
“Copies of your trust documents. Copies of your identification. Signature samples.”
I felt sick.
Vanessa saw my expression.
“What else?”
David paused.
“There were files on several investors.”
“Why?”
“We’re figuring that out.”
“And Box 14?”
Another pause.
“Box 14 contained cash.”
I gripped the phone.
“How much?”
“Approximately two hundred thousand dollars.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
David continued.
“There were also passports.”
My blood turned cold.
“Whose?”
“Ryan’s.”
I swallowed.
“Why would he keep his passport in a storage unit?”
“There were three.”
I frowned.
“He only has one passport.”
“That’s the problem.”
I stopped breathing.
David lowered his voice.
“Two of them have Ryan’s photograph with different names.”
For a second, nobody in the kitchen moved.
Then another thought hit me.
“Was Ryan planning to run?”
“We don’t know.”
But his tone told me enough.
Before I could ask another question, someone knocked hard on Claire’s front door.
Three times.
Vanessa jumped.
Claire looked through the camera.
Her face changed.
“Emily.”
“What?”
May you like
She turned toward me.
“It’s Ryan.”
