Chapter 3 - THE TWO WOMEN DEREK LIED TO
Brittany sat down before anyone asked her to.
The confidence had drained from her completely.
Emma had hated this woman for weeks.
Now she saw something she had not expected.
Fear.
“How long?” Emma asked.
Brittany looked at Derek.
Then away.
“Eleven months.”
Emma closed her eyes.
She had been four months pregnant when the affair began.
Maybe earlier.
Brittany continued:
“He told me you two were basically separated.”
“We lived together.”
“I know that now.”
“He slept beside me every night.”
Brittany’s face crumpled.
“He told me he used the guest room.”
Derek snapped:
“Enough.”
Both women turned toward him.
For once, neither obeyed.
Emma asked:
“What else did he tell you?”
Brittany hesitated.
“That after the baby came, he would finally be free.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
“Because of the trust?”
“I didn’t know about the trust.”
“Then why?”
“He said there was a legal arrangement.”
Luca watched Derek carefully.
“What arrangement?”
Brittany looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
Derek moved toward the exit.
Hospital security stepped closer.
“You’re not under arrest,” one officer said. “But the patient has requested you leave the maternity floor.”
Derek looked toward Emma.
“This is my daughter too.”
The words landed differently now.
Three minutes earlier he refused to sign anything until a test.
Now suddenly she was his daughter.
Emma stood.
“No.”
Derek frowned.
“You don’t get to change positions because money appeared.”
“She is mine.”
“Then prove it in court.”
His face went red.
Luca quietly said:
“That sounds reasonable.”
Derek turned.
“You stay out of this.”
Luca smiled without warmth.
“I tried that fourteen years ago.”
Emma caught the sentence.
“What does that mean?”
Luca’s expression changed.
He did not answer immediately.
Then he looked toward the nursery.
“Your father’s death.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“My father died in a construction accident.”
“That is what the report says.”
“What do you say?”
Luca’s companion spoke for the first time.
“Boss.”
A warning.
Luca ignored him.
“I say my father never believed it.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Michael called Vittorio the night before.”
“What did he say?”
“That William Morrison had threatened him.”
Derek laughed sharply.
“My father threatened half the city when he was angry.”
Luca turned.
“Michael specifically said William told him he would never live long enough to give Emma those shares.”
The corridor went quiet.
Emma felt suddenly cold.
“You’ve known this for fourteen years?”
“No.”
“I found the recording six months ago.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“I tried.”
Emma frowned.
“No, you didn’t.”
Luca looked at his companion.
The man removed a folder.
Inside were copies of letters.
Returned mail.
An investigator’s report.
Emma’s old addresses.
“My father ordered your family left alone after Michael died. He believed distance protected you.”
“That worked well.”
“No.”
Luca accepted the criticism.
“When I found the recording, I began searching.”
Derek muttered:
“Convenient story.”
Luca looked at him.
“You knew I was searching.”
Derek’s mouth closed.
Emma noticed.
“How?”
Luca answered:
“Because someone inside the Hayes trust notified Derek every time my attorneys requested records.”
Emma stared.
“Who?”
“We’re still determining that.”
Then Luca’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His face changed.
“What?”
He looked at Emma.
“The trust administrator just responded.”
“And?”
“Your father’s shares still exist.”
Emma swallowed.
“How much are they worth?”
Luca hesitated.
“Based on the most recent valuation?”
“Yes.”
“Approximately twenty-eight million dollars.”
Brittany whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Derek closed his eyes.
Emma almost laughed.
Of course.
There it was.
The number behind three years of love.
Twenty-eight million dollars.
Then Luca continued:
“But there’s a problem.”
Emma looked at him.
“What?”
“The trust says the inheritance transferred the moment your daughter was born.”
“That sounds good.”
“It would be.”
“If?”
Luca turned his phone toward her.
“If someone hadn’t filed an emergency challenge yesterday.”
Emma read the claimant’s name.
William Morrison.
Derek’s father.
May you like
Alive.
And apparently still trying to take what belonged to Michael Hayes.
