Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN ON THE PHONE
The woman on the phone took one shaky breath before saying the name I already expected.
“My name is Sophie Adler.”
Every sound in the coffee shop seemed to disappear.
I stared at the notes spread across my table.
Eleven business trips.
Five suspicious weekends.
One husband who had spent Sunday dinner discussing another woman’s pregnancy while I carried cheesecake to his family.
“I know who you are,” I said.
Silence.
Then Sophie whispered, “Then he told you?”
“No.”
That single word changed her breathing.
“What do you mean?”
“My husband discussed your pregnancy with his family last night.”
“Oh my God.”
“You thought I knew?”
“He told me you did.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course he had.
“What exactly did Julian tell you about me?”
Sophie sounded close to tears.
“That your marriage was finished.”
My fingers tightened around my coffee cup.
“He said you were still living together because selling the house would complicate your finances.”
I almost laughed.
Julian and I had celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary three weeks earlier.
He had given me diamond earrings.
“What else?”
“He said you knew about us.”
“I didn't.”
“He said you knew about the baby.”
“I learned last night.”
Sophie swore quietly.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then she said, “Claire, I didn't call because I wanted anything from you.”
“Why did you call?”
“Because something happened yesterday.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What?”
“Helga came to my apartment.”
Julian’s mother.
“What did she want?”
“To discuss the baby.”
That didn't surprise me.
The next part did.
“She brought paperwork.”
“What paperwork?”
Sophie hesitated.
“A proposed custody agreement.”
My hand went cold.
“Custody?”
“She said after the baby is born, I could receive seventy-five thousand dollars if I signed over primary custody to Julian.”
The coffee shop seemed to tilt.
“Why would you do that?”
“I wouldn't.”
Sophie’s voice hardened.
“That’s when Helga got angry. She said I had already complicated Julian’s life enough.”
I remembered Helga smiling across the dining table.
We’ll make her raise the baby.
“What did she say about me?”
Another pause.
“She said you had wanted a child for so long that once the baby was inside your house, you'd become attached.”
I felt sick.
“They planned for me to raise your child without telling me?”
“Yes.”
Sophie continued.
“Julian told them you were emotionally fragile about infertility. Helga said that made you predictable.”
I wrote that word down.
Predictable.
“How long have you and Julian been together?”
“Seven months.”
Five months pregnant.
The math was brutal.
Then Sophie said something that made every business trip on my page suddenly matter.
“He never came to Chicago, Claire.”
I stopped writing.
“What?”
“Those weekends he told you he was in Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“He was with me in Milwaukee.”
I stared at eleven dates.
Six suddenly had explanations.
Then Sophie dropped the real reason she had finally called.
“Last night Julian told me I had to stay quiet for three more weeks.”
“Why three weeks?”
“He said once you signed the house papers, everything would be easier.”
My heart began pounding.
“What house papers?”
“I don't know.”
“He called it the refinance.”
I had a mortgage appointment scheduled next Friday.
Julian had told me refinancing would simply lower our interest rate.
May you like
According to Sophie, my husband needed my signature for something much bigger.
And his pregnant mistress had just warned me before I signed it.
