Chapter 2 - Eighteen DaysRyan reached the staircase before Emily did.
He planted himself in front of her.
“You’re not going upstairs.”
Emily stopped.
Behind her, Robert held Lily against his chest.
The baby had quieted, but her tiny fists remained tangled in his jacket.
Emily looked at Ryan.
Half an hour earlier, she might have obeyed automatically.
That frightened her almost as much as what had happened at the sink.
“How long have you known about the trust?”
“I don’t.”
“You just tried to stop Dad from telling me.”
“Because he’s manipulating you.”
Robert laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
Ryan pointed at him.
“This man hid millions of dollars from you and I’m the problem?”
Emily turned.
Robert flinched.
Ryan saw it.
Immediately, his confidence returned.
“There,” he said. “Look at him.”
“Dad?”
Robert’s mouth tightened.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“Before your birthday.”
“Eighteen days before?”
“No.”
Emily stared at him.
Robert looked away.
Ryan moved beside her.
Suddenly his voice became soft.
Almost loving.
That scared Emily more than the yelling.
“Em, think.”
She recoiled when he reached for her.
He stopped.
“Your own father kept this from you for nine years.”
Robert’s voice hardened. “Because Margaret created the trust that way.”
“Convenient.”
“Ryan—”
“No, let him explain it.”
Emily looked at her father.
Robert swallowed.
“Your mother was afraid you’d receive too much too young.”
“I was twenty-one.”
“You were grieving. You had dropped out of graduate school. You were barely sleeping.”
“That doesn’t explain why nobody told me.”
Robert’s silence did.
Emily felt betrayed from two directions at once.
Ryan saw it happening and pushed harder.
“He’s been controlling you your entire life.”
Emily’s eyes snapped toward him.
“And you haven’t?”
The question landed.
Ryan’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But she saw it.
“I’m your husband.”
“You shoved my face into a sink.”
“You were screaming.”
“Because you had your hand on my neck!”
“You were hysterical before I touched you.”
Robert took one step toward him.
“Watch yourself.”
Ryan smiled coldly.
“There. That’s what he does. He decides what happened, and suddenly everybody believes him.”
Emily looked at the stairs.
“What’s upstairs?”
“Nothing.”
“You looked up there when Dad mentioned the money.”
“I live here, Emily. I look around my own house.”
“Mom’s house.”
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Ryan’s eyes darkened.
Emily saw the instant he understood that his control was slipping.
He grabbed her wrist.
Robert moved.
“Let her go.”
Ryan released her.
Emily backed away.
“Get out.”
Ryan blinked.
“What?”
“I want you to leave.”
“This is my home too.”
“Then I’ll leave.”
“With my daughter?”
“Our daughter.”
“You’re not taking Lily anywhere.”
Robert handed the baby back to Emily.
“You don’t get to make that decision,” he said.
Ryan turned on him.
“You hit me. I can have you arrested.”
“Then call the police.”
Robert removed his phone and set it on the counter.
“Tell them exactly what happened. Make sure you mention what I walked in on.”
Ryan looked at the phone.
Nobody moved.
Robert nodded slowly.
“That’s what I thought.”
Emily headed upstairs.
Ryan didn’t follow.
That frightened her.
Their bedroom looked exactly as it had that morning.
Unmade bed.
Laundry basket.
Curtains half open.
Ryan’s watch on the dresser.
Nothing sinister.
Nothing unusual.
Emily entered the walk-in closet.
She knew about the safe.
Ryan had installed it two years earlier.
He said it contained tax documents and emergency cash.
Emily had never known the combination.
She knelt before it.
Four-digit keypad.
“Emily.”
Ryan stood behind her.
She jumped.
He closed the closet door.
“Move.”
“No.”
His voice was calm again.
“We can talk about this.”
“Open the safe.”
“There’s nothing in there that concerns you.”
Emily stared at him.
“That is the worst possible answer you could have given me.”
He crouched beside her.
For an instant, he looked like the man she had married.
Warm brown eyes.
Tired smile.
The man who once drove three hours through a snowstorm because she called him crying after a bad day.
“Your father is trying to destroy us.”
“You destroyed us downstairs.”
“I lost control.”
“You forced my head into dirty water.”
“And I’m ashamed of that.”
It was the first apology.
Emily almost hated herself for feeling its pull.
Ryan saw it.
He took her hand.
“I’ve been under pressure.”
“What pressure?”
He hesitated.
Emily pulled her hand away.
“The trust?”
“No.”
“Then open the safe.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because what’s inside will hurt you.”
Emily stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Before Ryan could answer, Robert called from downstairs.
“Emily!”
Ryan’s face changed immediately.
Panic.
Emily opened the closet door.
“Stay here.”
She hurried downstairs.
Robert stood at the kitchen counter holding Ryan’s phone.
The screen was illuminated.
A message had appeared.
No name.
Only a number.
Emily looked at it.
Did she see the deed?
Her skin went cold.
A second message appeared.
If Robert showed her the trust, we need to move tonight.
Emily slowly turned.
Ryan was standing halfway down the staircase.
His expression told her everything.
He knew exactly who had sent those messages.
Emily looked back at the phone.
A third message appeared.
Eighteen days was all you had to wait. How did you screw this up?
Robert stared at Ryan.
Emily could barely breathe.
“Who is this?”
Ryan descended another step.
“Give me my phone.”
Emily picked it up.
“Who is this?”
“Emily.”
“WHO IS THIS?”
Ryan stopped.
Then the phone rang.
The same number.
Emily answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a woman’s voice.
“Ryan?”
Emily felt the room tilt.
“No.”
The woman inhaled sharply.
Emily tightened her grip around the phone.
“This is his wife.”
The call ended.
Emily stared at the screen.
Robert’s eyes moved toward Ryan.
Ryan said nothing.
May you like
Emily suddenly understood.
Whatever was inside that safe, Ryan wasn’t working alone.
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