Chapter 5
I showed the texts to my father.
His face went dark.
He called his security team immediately.
"I want cameras installed tonight," he said. "Every entrance. The perimeter of the property. And I want two men on the gate at all times."
He turned to me.
"Nobody gets near this house. Nobody gets near Emma. Understand?"
I nodded.
I went back to the bedroom.
Emma was still sleeping peacefully.
I sat on the edge of the bed and watched her.
How could someone threaten a child?
How could Linda be so evil?
The next morning, I woke up early.
Emma was still asleep.
I got dressed.
I was going to meet Daniel.
My father tried to talk me out of it again.
"Let my people handle it," he said.
"No," I told him. "I need to look him in the eye. I need to hear him say it. Or deny it. Either way, I need to know."
He sighed.
"Fine. But my men will be everywhere. If he so much as reaches for you—"
"I know."
The café on 5th Street was busy.
I sat at a table by the window.
I ordered coffee.
My hands were shaking so badly the spoon clinked against the cup.
Daniel arrived ten minutes late.
He looked terrible.
Dark circles under his eyes. His hair messy. He was wearing the same shirt he'd worn last night.
He sat down across from me.
"Sarah," he said. His voice was raw. "You look—"
"Save it," I said. "I want the truth. About the money. About your father. About everything."
He looked around nervously.
"Not here," he whispered. "Linda has people. She could be watching."
"Let her watch," I said. "I'm done hiding."
He took a deep breath.
"The money," he said. "It started two years ago. Linda said she was setting up a trust. For Emma. She said if I didn't accept the payments, she'd cut Emma off completely. That she'd never see her granddaughter again."
"And you believed her?"
"She's my mother," he said. "I wanted to believe her. I wanted Emma to be taken care of."
"So you let me think we were broke," I said. "You made me cancel Emma's ballet. You made me return my mother's necklace. All while you had nearly $300,000 in a secret account."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry. Linda said—"
"Linda said," I interrupted. "Do you have any thoughts of your own, Daniel? Any opinions that aren't just echoes of what your mother tells you?"
He flinched.
"I'm trying to explain—"
"Explain your father," I said. "Did she kill him, Daniel?"
The color drained from his face.
"What?"
"Did Linda kill your father?" I repeated. "And did you know?"
He stared at me.
Tears filled his eyes.
"I was fourteen," he whispered. "I heard them fighting. That night. She was screaming about the divorce. About being left with nothing. And then… silence. The next morning, she said he'd died in his sleep."
He paused.
"I saw her," he said. His voice broke. "I saw her in the kitchen that night. She was washing something. A small bottle. And she looked at me. And she told me that if I ever said anything, I'd be sorry. That I'd end up just like my father."
I stared at him.
"You were fourteen," I said. "And she threatened you."
He nodded. Tears were streaming down his face now.
"I've been scared of her my whole life," he said. "She controls everything. Everyone. When she told me to marry you—"
He stopped.
My heart stopped with him.
"When she told you to marry me?" I whispered.
He looked at me.
Despair in his eyes.
"She chose you," he said. "She said you were perfect. The daughter of the man she hated. She said marrying you would be the first step in destroying your father. Taking everything he had."
I felt like I couldn't breathe.
"And you went along with it," I said.
"I was weak," he said. "I was scared. But Sarah—what I feel for you. For Emma. That's real. That was never part of the plan."
I stood up.
I couldn't be near him.
Not anymore.
"You used me," I said. "You married me as part of your mother's revenge scheme. And then you stood there and let her slap me. You told me I provoked her."
"Sarah, please—"
"I loved you," I said. My voice cracked. "I gave you three years of my life. I gave you a daughter. And none of it was real to you. Not really."
I turned to leave.
"Sarah, wait!" He grabbed my arm.
And that's when it happened.
A woman walked into the café.
She was young. Beautiful. Expensively dressed.
She walked straight to our table.
And she looked at Daniel.
"Daniel," she said. "I thought we were meeting for lunch."
Then she looked at me.
May you like
And she smiled.
"You must be Sarah," she said. "I'm Victoria. Daniel's fiancée."
