Chapter 4
I had imagined many terrible things about my marriage.
Divorce.
Loneliness.
Finding out the man I loved had stopped loving me.
But nothing prepared me for hearing my husband confess that he had gotten my own sister pregnant.
I stared at Marcus.
His lips were moving.
He was explaining something.
I heard only fragments.
“Last winter.”
“One mistake.”
“She said she loved me.”
I raised my hand.
“Stop.”
He fell silent.
I looked toward Lily.
My beautiful daughter was asleep beneath a pink hospital blanket.
Her little purple gift box sat on the windowsill, soaked and damaged.
She had carried it to the party because she wanted to give Auntie Vanessa a present.
A present for Vanessa's unborn baby.
My stomach turned.
“How long?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Nia—”
“How long have you been sleeping with my sister?”
He looked at the floor.
“Since December.”
Ten months.
Almost an entire year of lies.
“And you knew the baby was yours?”
“Yes.”
I pressed my hand against my chest.
For a moment, I thought I might be sick.
My father reached toward me.
I shook my head.
“Not yet, Daddy.”
I needed to stand.
I needed to understand.
I needed to hear every disgusting detail before I decided what to do next.
“Did Vanessa threaten you?”
Marcus nodded.
“She said she'd tell you everything.”
“Why didn't you tell me yourself?”
“Because I was afraid of losing you.”
I looked at him in disbelief.
“You were afraid of losing me, so you helped her try to take my daughter?”
He began crying again.
I couldn't bear the sound.
“Get out.”
“Nia, please.”
“Get out.”
He looked toward Lily.
“Can I at least—”
“No.”
My voice broke.
“Not tonight.”
Denise stepped forward.
“Marcus, you need legal counsel. Any further statements should be made through your attorney.”
My father opened the hospital room door.
Marcus stood there for a moment.
Then he whispered, “I never wanted Lily hurt.”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“But you helped someone hurt her.”
He walked away.
And for the first time since our wedding day, I felt safer with him gone.
My father closed the door.
I sat beside Lily.
Then the tears finally came.
I cried so hard I couldn't breathe.
Daddy wrapped his arms around me.
I was thirty-eight years old.
A mother.
A business owner.
A woman who had built a life around being strong.
But in that hospital room, I felt like a little girl again.
“Daddy, why?”
He held me tighter.
“I don't know, sweetheart.”
“Vanessa is my sister.”
“I know.”
“She watched Lily grow up.”
His shoulders began shaking.
I realized he was crying too.
That frightened me almost as much as everything else.
My father had always been steady.
Even after my mother died twelve years earlier, he had been the person who held our family together.
Now his own daughter had endangered his granddaughter.
He wiped his eyes.
“Your mother would have been heartbroken.”
I looked up.
“She always said Vanessa needed help.”
Daddy nodded slowly.
“She did.”
“But needing help doesn't excuse this.”
“No,” he said. “It doesn't.”
Denise gave us a few minutes.
When she returned, she had more news.
“The police want formal statements from everyone involved. They've already obtained the footage your father preserved.”
I nodded.
“I'll tell them everything.”
“They're also looking into the guardianship petition and the messages Marcus received.”
My father asked, “Can Vanessa be arrested?”
“That's a decision for law enforcement and prosecutors, based on the evidence.”
I appreciated that Denise didn't promise what she couldn't control.
After what had happened, I needed facts.
Not comforting lies.
I looked toward Lily.
“Whatever happens, she stays with me.”
Denise nodded.
“We'll address the false allegations immediately. We'll also pursue appropriate protective measures.”
My phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
I ignored it.
It rang again.
Then a message appeared.
NIA, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. MARCUS LIED TO YOU. PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN.
Vanessa.
I stared at the screen.
Another message arrived.
I'M PREGNANT. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME.
I felt a cold anger settle over my grief.
She had pushed my two-year-old daughter into a swimming pool.
And she was asking me to feel sorry for her.
I showed Denise the messages.
“Preserve them,” she said. “Don't respond.”
I took screenshots.
Then another message appeared.
IF DADDY TURNS ME IN, HE'LL LOSE EVERYTHING TOO.
My father leaned forward.
“What does that mean?”
I showed him.
His expression darkened.
Denise asked whether Vanessa had access to company documents or accounts.
My father frowned.
“She used to work in the family office.”
“Used to?”
“I suspended her six months ago.”
I looked at him.
“You never told me.”
He sighed.
“I didn't want to create more trouble between you two.”
“Why did you suspend her?”
He hesitated.
Then answered.
“Missing company funds.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“How much?”
“Initially, about forty thousand dollars.”
“Initially?”
He looked ashamed.
“We were still reviewing the records.”
I stared at him.
“Daddy, what else haven't you told me?”
He lowered himself into the chair.
“Vanessa had been using company resources without authorization. I thought she was having financial problems. I arranged for an audit.”
“Did you confront her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She blamed an accounting error.”
I shook my head.
“That sounds familiar.”
My father's phone rang.
He checked the number.
Then answered.
“Hello?”
I watched his face change.
“What?”
He stood.
“When?”
Denise immediately approached him.
He listened for another moment.
Then ended the call.
“Daddy?”
His voice was tight.
“The security office just found out someone accessed the company records tonight.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“Vanessa's old login credentials.”
Denise frowned.
“Were they disabled?”
“They should have been.”
My father looked toward the hallway.
“She may have been trying to erase something.”
I glanced at my daughter.
Then at the messages.
Suddenly, Vanessa's threat made sense.
She wasn't only afraid of being caught hurting Lily.
She was afraid of what an investigation might uncover.
And as my father called his security director, my phone lit up again.
One final message from Vanessa.
YOU THINK THIS STARTED AT THE POOL?
I stared at the words.
May you like
Then the second part arrived.
ASK DADDY WHAT HE SIGNED THE NIGHT MOM DIED.
