CHAPTER 2 — The Divorce That Was Never the Truth
Emma's phone rang at exactly 9:41 p.m.
She almost ignored it.
The twins had finally fallen asleep after insisting she read the same space adventure three times.
Unknown number.
She answered cautiously.
"Hello?"
There was silence.
Then a voice she had spent four years trying to forget.
"Emma..."
Nathan.
Her body froze.
For several seconds she couldn't breathe.
Finally she spoke.
"What do you want?"
Nathan had rehearsed this conversation a hundred times.
Every version collapsed.
"I saw you."
Another silence.
"The bakery."
Emma closed her eyes.
"So you watched."
"I didn't know how to approach."
"You approached very easily when your lawyers handed me divorce papers."
Every word landed like broken glass.
Nathan accepted every one.
"I deserve that."
"You deserve much worse."
He didn't argue.
Instead he asked quietly...
"The boys..."
Emma immediately hung up.
Across town Nathan remained staring at the disconnected call.
Five minutes later another call came.
Not from Emma.
From someone he never expected.
Daniel Foster.
Emma's older brother.
"Meet me tomorrow."
Nathan frowned.
"You hate me."
"I do."
"Then why?"
"Because you deserve to know how badly you were manipulated."
The meeting took place inside a forgotten diner on the outskirts of Chicago.
Daniel looked older.
Angrier.
He slid an envelope across the table.
Nathan opened it.
Medical records.
Prenatal appointments.
Ultrasound photos.
Dates.
Every appointment occurred before the divorce.
Nathan looked up.
Daniel spoke quietly.
"Emma found out she was pregnant three weeks before your mother visited."
Nathan's heart stopped.
"My mother?"
Daniel nodded.
"Margaret Harrison."
Nathan whispered...
"No..."
Daniel continued.
"She told Emma that if she truly loved you, she'd disappear."
Nathan couldn't speak.
"Emma refused."
"So your mother offered money."
Nathan shook his head.
"No."
"Emma refused again."
Daniel leaned forward.
"So your mother lied."
Nathan's breathing became shallow.
"What lie?"
Daniel stared directly into his eyes.
"She told Emma you already knew about the pregnancy."
Nathan felt physically sick.
"And?"
"She said you didn't want children."
Every sound inside the diner disappeared.
Daniel wasn't finished.
"She also told Emma that your board planned to remove you if investors believed your family life was unstable."
Nathan whispered...
"I never said that."
"I know."
Daniel reached into his coat again.
This time he placed a flash drive on the table.
"I've kept this for four years."
Nathan picked it up.
"What is it?"
"A security recording."
"From where?"
"My house."
Nathan frowned.
"The day Emma came crying."
Daniel looked away.
"You'll hear your mother's exact words."
Nathan drove home without remembering the roads.
He inserted the flash drive.
Pressed play.
The screen showed Emma...
...pregnant...
...crying.
Then Margaret Harrison entered the frame.
Cold.
Perfectly dressed.
Her voice echoed through Nathan's office.
"Nathan will never choose you over Harrison Development."
Emma sobbed.
"I love him."
Margaret smiled.
"Exactly why you'll leave."
Then came the sentence that shattered Nathan forever.
"When those babies are born... Nathan will never know they existed."
Nathan dropped to his knees.
Four years.
Every birthday.
Every first word.
Every first step.
Stolen.
May you like
Not by Emma.
By his own mother.
