Chapter 4 - The Midnight Meeting
Mark opened the envelope and spread several high-resolution photographs across the table.
They were timestamped: April 14th, 11:42 PM.
The photos showed Daniel standing in the dim lighting of an underground parking garage. Standing across from him was Lauren. But they weren't kissing. They weren't holding hands.
Lauren was holding an envelope, and Daniel was thrusting it back against her chest, his face contorted in anger.
“I had a private investigator following her,” Mark said calmly. “I thought she was having an affair. I was wrong. She wasn’t cheating on me for love, Claire. She was blackmailing your husband.”
My heart stopped beating. “Blackmailing him?”
Daniel dropped his head into his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
“Tell her, Daniel,” Mark said, his voice devoid of pity. “Tell your wife what Lauren had on you. Or do you want me to read the police report from five years ago?”
Mom gasped. “Police report? What police report?”
“The one Eleanor helped cover up,” Dad said, his voice filled with a hollow, crushing truth.
I looked between my mother and father. “What are you talking about? What police report? What did Daniel do?”
“He didn’t do anything, Claire!” Dad said, looking at Mom with absolute contempt. “Your mother did. Five years ago, before you and Daniel got married, Lauren got into a hit-and-run driving home from a bar. She was drunk. She panicked and called your mother.”
May you like
The room seemed to tilt on its axis.
“Mom went to the scene,” Dad continued, his voice shaking. “She took Lauren’s car, drove it to Daniel’s garage, and asked Daniel—who was just trying to impress his future mother-in-law—to report the dent as an accident that happened in his driveway. And when Daniel refused, Eleanor told him that if he didn’t help hide it, she would make sure you never married him.”
