Chapter 4
Richard arrived before the police did.
I hated that.
I hated that part of me felt relieved when I saw his black car stop outside.
He stepped out without a jacket, face hard, phone pressed to his ear.
Two men followed him.
Security.
Real security.
Not drivers pretending to be useful.
He saw the broken window and went completely still.
Then he saw Noah and Lily standing behind me in the hall.
His control cracked.
“Are they hurt?”
“No.”
Lily hid behind my leg.
Noah stared at Richard with wide eyes.
Richard saw the fear and stopped moving.
Good.
At least he understood not to rush them.
Daniel handed the note to the police.
One officer read it.
“Do you recognize the handwriting?”
I looked at Richard.
He looked back at me.
“Yes,” he said.
“My wife’s.”
The officer raised his eyebrows.
“Your current wife?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
That word sounded like regret.
Victoria denied everything.
Of course she did.
By morning, her attorney released a statement calling me unstable, manipulative, and desperate for financial gain.
By afternoon, photos of my townhouse were online.
My address.
My children’s school.
My workplace.
Richard called me from his office.
“They posted your address.”
“I know.”
“Come to my house.”
“No.”
“It has gates. Guards.”
“And Victoria has keys.”
“I changed everything.”
“You think locks fix what you married?”
He went quiet.
Then said, “I deserve that.”
“Yes.”
“But the children don’t deserve exposure.”
I hated him again for being right.
Daniel arranged temporary relocation.
Not to Richard’s mansion.
To a secure apartment owned by the court-approved protection company.
Richard paid.
Daniel made sure the payment gave him no control.
When I told the twins we were having an “adventure sleepover,” Lily cried because she wanted her stuffed rabbit.
Richard heard her from the doorway.
He disappeared without asking.
Twenty minutes later, he returned holding the rabbit from the townhouse.
A security guard had retrieved it.
Lily stared at him.
“You got Bunny?”
Richard crouched a safe distance away.
“Yes.”
She looked at me first.
I nodded.
Only then did she walk over and take it.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Richard swallowed hard.
“You’re welcome.”
Noah watched him carefully.
“Are you the man from dinner?”
“Yes.”
“Why did Mommy not like you?”
The room froze.
Richard looked at me.
I said nothing.
He answered my son.
“Because I hurt her feelings a long time ago.”
Noah frowned.
“Did you say sorry?”
“Yes.”
“Did it fix it?”
Richard’s eyes flicked to mine.
“No.”
Noah considered that.
“Then you have to be sorry more times.”
Richard almost smiled.
“I think you’re right.”
That night, after the twins fell asleep, Daniel called.
“We found who leaked your address.”
“Victoria?”
“Her assistant.”
Richard heard it too.
His face turned colder than I had ever seen.
“Name.”
Daniel gave it.
Richard made one call.
By morning, the assistant had confessed.
Not only to leaking my address.
To something worse.
Victoria had hired a private investigator six months ago.
She had known about the twins before the restaurant.
She had known where we lived.
She had known their birthday.
I stared at Daniel’s phone.
“She planned the restaurant.”
Daniel nodded.
Richard looked sick.
“She wanted me to see them.”
“Why?” I whispered.
Daniel’s voice was grim.
“Because she needed Richard to panic and fight you publicly.”
I turned toward him.
“Why would she want that?”
Daniel placed another file on the table.
“Because if Richard is declared emotionally unfit during a custody war, Victoria’s father can petition to manage the Blackwell trust.”
Richard sat down slowly.
May you like
Victoria had not been shocked by my children.
She had been waiting for them.
