Chapter 6
I didn't cry when Olivia told me.
I couldn't.
It was as if my body had finally run out of tears.
I sat at my father's dining table staring at the flowers while her words repeated in my head.
Adrian helped design the plan.
My husband.
The man who had held my hand during our wedding vows.
The man who had cried when we saw our baby's heartbeat for the first time.
The man who kissed my forehead every morning before leaving for work.
He hadn't simply failed to protect me.
He had been planning to betray me.
I asked Olivia to come to the house.
She arrived with Evelyn Brooks shortly after four.
Evelyn was a nervous-looking woman in her late forties.
She wore a plain gray cardigan and kept twisting a tissue between her fingers.
The moment she saw me, her eyes filled.
"Mrs. Blackwood, I'm so sorry."
I motioned for her to sit.
"Please call me Serena."
She nodded.
"I should have come forward months ago."
"Then why didn't you?"
Her lips trembled.
"Margaret threatened to ruin me. My husband has been sick, and she knew we needed my salary."
I looked at her carefully.
"What changed?"
She glanced at my stomach.
"The baby."
My heart tightened.
Evelyn wiped her cheeks.
"When I discovered what they intended to do after she was born, I couldn't stay silent."
Olivia placed a folder on the table.
"Serena, this information is being provided to the authorities. You don't have to examine every detail today."
"I want to know."
Dad sat beside me.
I took a breath.
"Everything."
Evelyn began with the Blackwood family's financial troubles.
Their investment company had lost millions on a failed luxury apartment development.
Adrian had concealed the losses through increasingly desperate loans.
Margaret knew.
Bianca knew.
And apparently, the family had decided that my inheritance was their solution.
"They thought your father would eventually rescue Adrian's company," Evelyn explained.
"But Dad refused to invest."
"Yes. After that, Margaret became furious."
I remembered that dinner.
Adrian had invited my father to a restaurant six months earlier.
He called it a casual family meal.
Halfway through, he began talking about investment opportunities.
Dad politely declined.
Adrian barely spoke to me for three days afterward.
At the time, he claimed he was stressed.
Now I understood.
"What was the next step?" I asked.
Evelyn lowered her eyes.
"They began exploring ways to gain authority over your financial decisions."
Olivia opened the folder.
"Some of the communications discuss pressuring Serena to sign broad powers of attorney."
My stomach twisted.
"I would never have agreed."
"They knew that," Evelyn whispered.
"So they decided to make you feel frightened and dependent."
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
She handed Olivia a printed email.
Olivia read it quietly.
"Margaret suggested staging an incident that would damage Serena's reputation and create documentation of supposedly unstable behavior."
I stared at them.
"The wedding."
Evelyn nodded.
"Bianca volunteered to accuse you of stealing."
I closed my eyes.
"The ring."
"Yes."
"So Adrian knew?"
Evelyn hesitated.
"He knew they intended to provoke you publicly. I don't know whether he knew Margaret would tear your dress."
My throat tightened.
"He told me to cooperate."
Evelyn looked devastated.
"That was part of the plan."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"He was supposed to appear reasonable and concerned while you became upset. Margaret wanted witnesses who would describe you as irrational."
I felt cold all over.
They had wanted me to scream.
To fight.
To look unstable in front of nearly two hundred people.
I thought of how close I'd come.
How badly I'd wanted to slap Margaret.
How desperately I'd wanted to scream at Adrian.
"They wanted to use the wedding against me."
Olivia nodded.
"That appears to have been the intention."
I rested my hand on my stomach.
"And my daughter?"
Evelyn began crying.
I knew before she answered that the truth would hurt.
"Margaret believed that if Adrian could obtain temporary primary custody, you would agree to almost anything to get your baby back."
I stared at her.
"Anything?"
"Including signing financial documents."
For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
I imagined a hospital room.
My newborn daughter in my arms.
Adrian smiling at me.
Then Margaret walking through the door with papers.
I felt physically sick.
"She wanted to use my child as leverage."
Evelyn nodded.
"I'm so sorry."
Dad stood and walked toward the window.
His hands were clenched.
I had never seen him struggle so hard to control his anger.
"Did Adrian agree to this?" I asked.
Evelyn wiped her face.
"He participated in discussions. Some of the messages are in his own words."
"Show me."
Olivia hesitated.
Then she handed me one printed email.
Adrian had written it.
I recognized his professional signature.
The message discussed a strategy for convincing me that remaining married and cooperating financially would be the easiest way to protect my access to the baby.
I read it twice.
Then I placed it on the table.
"I want a divorce."
My voice was steady.
Olivia nodded.
"We can begin."
"And I want every protective measure available for my daughter."
"We'll pursue appropriate court orders based on the evidence."
I looked toward Evelyn.
"Will you testify?"
She took a breath.
"Yes."
I studied her face.
"Even if Margaret threatens you?"
She nodded.
"I'm done being afraid of her."
Something inside me shifted.
For months, I had believed I was alone.
Now I realized there were people who had also been frightened into silence.
And perhaps I could help them, too.
That evening, Dad's security team reported a vehicle parked outside the estate gates.
It was Adrian.
He had been sitting there for almost an hour.
I watched from an upstairs window.
His car headlights illuminated the driveway.
My phone vibrated from a new number.
"Serena, please. Five minutes. I need to see you."
I stared at the message.
Another arrived.
"I know about the emails. Mom is trying to blame everything on me."
Then another.
"I never wanted to lose our daughter."
I felt anger rise inside me.
He was still talking about what he wanted.
Not about what he'd done.
I typed a reply.
"You had three years to show me who you were. You chose tonight."
I sent it.
Then I handed the phone to Olivia.
"No more direct contact."
She nodded.
"We'll handle communication through counsel."
But Adrian didn't leave.
A few minutes later, Marcus approached my father.
"Sir, there's a woman at the gate."
Dad frowned.
"Who?"
"Mrs. Margaret Blackwood."
My blood ran cold.
"She's here?"
Marcus nodded.
"She says she won't leave until she sees Serena."
Dad's expression hardened.
"Tell her she is not welcome on this property."
Marcus turned to go.
Then his radio crackled.
He stopped.
Listened.
And looked back at us.
"Sir, there's been an incident at the gate."
I stood immediately.
"What happened?"
Marcus looked toward me.
"Mrs. Blackwood has just handed our guard an envelope."
My father frowned.
"What envelope?"
Marcus swallowed.
"It contains a copy of an emergency court filing."
I felt my heart pound.
"About what?"
May you like
He looked directly at me.
"Adrian is asking the court to restrict your ability to relocate the baby after birth."
