Chapter 7 - The Trap That Started Before I Was Pregnant
Howard had been trying to destroy our marriage months before I became pregnant.
The recording made that clear.
According to his own voice, he believed I was making Conrad "soft."
I encouraged Conrad to leave the family business.
To make decisions without asking permission.
To refuse a political marriage disguised as a business alliance.
Howard blamed me for every independent thought his adult son had.
So he created a plan.
Not to convince Conrad to leave me.
To convince me to leave Conrad.
"He hired someone," Conrad said quietly.
I already knew who.
"Lena."
His face changed.
Lena Voss had been Conrad's executive assistant during the last year of our marriage.
Beautiful.
Confident.
Always available.
Three months before I learned I was pregnant, I started receiving anonymous photographs.
Conrad leaving restaurants with Lena.
Conrad getting into a car beside her.
Lena touching his arm at a hotel entrance.
I confronted him twice.
Both times, he said the meetings were business.
I never completely believed him.
Now Howard's recording explained why.
He had deliberately scheduled Lena to accompany Conrad.
Then paid a photographer to capture angles that suggested intimacy.
"I never slept with her," Conrad said.
"I know."
He stared at me.
"You know?"
"I didn't then."
But three years after the divorce, Lena emailed me.
One sentence.
I'm sorry for my part in what Howard did.
I never replied.
I assumed she was apologizing for an affair.
Now I realized she meant something else.
Conrad looked stunned.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
I almost laughed.
"How?"
He lowered his gaze.
Right.
He had been unreachable because his father had made sure of it.
Howard's recording continued.
When I didn't leave after the photographs, he changed strategy.
Then I became pregnant.
And suddenly, the pregnancy wasn't simply inconvenient.
It threatened everything.
If Conrad became a father, Howard feared he would become even harder to control.
So Howard manufactured the fake emails.
Convinced Conrad I had manipulated him.
Intercepted Margaret's letter.
Intercepted mine.
Tracked the babies.
Stole their inheritance.
And forged messages convincing each of us the other wanted no contact.
But one part still didn't make sense.
"Why invite me now?" I asked.
Conrad looked confused.
"What?"
"You haven't contacted me personally in years. Then, days before Christmas, you suddenly send me that message."
He looked toward Felicity.
She shook her head.
"That wasn't my idea."
Margaret frowned.
"Not mine either."
I felt a chill.
"Then why now?"
Conrad reached into his pocket and opened his phone.
"I received an email last week."
"From whom?"
"Anonymous account."
He pulled it up.
The message contained only four lines.
Christmas is for family.
Invite Cecily.
You deserve to see what became of the life you escaped.
Then you'll understand your father was right.
My skin prickled.
Howard was dead.
Someone else had sent it.
Someone who knew his secrets.
Someone who expected me to arrive alone.
Felicity whispered:
"Maybe they wanted Cecily humiliated."
Conrad looked toward the window.
"Or they wanted me distracted."
A loud crash came from Howard's study.
We ran back.
The old laptop lay on the floor.
The desk drawer was open.
And the black ledger containing the payments for tracking me and the children was gone.
Noah stood frozen in the hallway.
"I saw someone."
Conrad rushed toward him.
"Who?"
Noah pointed toward the rear entrance.
"A woman."
"What woman?"
Noah swallowed.
"The lady from the Christmas picture."
Margaret went completely still.
"What picture?"
He pointed toward a framed photograph on the wall.
A family charity event from nine years earlier.
Conrad.
Howard.
Margaret.
May you like
And standing three people behind them...
Lena Voss.
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