PART 2 — The Secret Emma Had Been Running From
I pulled Emma inside and locked the door.
“Start talking.”
She looked toward the windows.
“Is Nolan home?”
“No. He won’t be back for hours.”
Emma exhaled.
Then she looked down at the baby.
“This is why I couldn’t come back.”
I stared at her.
“What happened to you?”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“Emma, I’m your mother. You disappeared for a year.”
“I know.”
“Do you have any idea what I’ve been through?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I know exactly what you’ve been through.”
That stopped me.
“How?”
Emma reached into the diaper bag and pulled out a small envelope.
She handed it to me.
My name was written across the front.
I opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens of them.
Nolan standing outside different buildings.
Nolan talking to unfamiliar men.
Nolan getting into cars.
I stared at the pictures.
“What is this?”
Emma whispered:
“He wasn’t angry because he hated me.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then why did he throw you out?”
“Because I found something.”
“What?”
Emma looked at the baby.
“I discovered that Nolan has been hiding money.”
I frowned.
“What kind of money?”
“A lot.”
She pulled out another document.
Bank transfers.
Payments.
Large amounts moving between accounts I had never heard of.
“Why would he hide money from us?”
“He wasn’t hiding it from you.”
She looked directly at me.
“He was hiding it from me.”
I couldn’t understand.
“Why?”
Emma took a deep breath.
“Because I found out who your husband really works for.”
I felt a chill.
“Nolan owns a construction company.”
“He says he does.”
“What does that mean?”
Emma leaned closer.
“He uses the company to move money.”
My hands went cold.
“From who?”
“People who don’t want their names connected to it.”
I stared at my daughter.
“You’re saying Nolan is involved in something illegal?”
She nodded.
“And when I found the records, he caught me.”
My heart pounded.
“What happened?”
“He told me nobody would believe an eighteen-year-old girl accusing her stepfather.”
Then she showed me another photograph.
It was me.
Standing outside my office.
I stared at it.
“When was this taken?”
“The week before you left for your business trip.”
I looked at Emma.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“He knew you were going away.”
My stomach dropped.
“Nolan planned it?”
Emma nodded.
“He wanted you out of town so he could make me disappear.”
I covered my mouth.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I tried.”
“What?”
“I called you that night.”
I shook my head.
“I never got a call.”
Emma pulled out her old phone.
The screen was cracked.
But there was a list of outgoing calls.
My number appeared again and again.
Twenty-seven times.
All on the same night.
I stared at the screen.
“I never received any of these.”
“He blocked your number from my phone.”
I felt sick.
Then Emma said something even worse.
“He also told me you had chosen him over me.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
I sat down.
For one year, I had believed my daughter had abandoned me.
She had believed I had abandoned her.
And Nolan had been standing between us the entire time.
Then the baby suddenly began crying.
Emma immediately held her close.
I looked at the newborn.
“Who is her father?”
Emma went silent.
I knew immediately there was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Emma.”
She looked away.
“Mom, that’s the part you won’t believe.”
“Tell me.”
She took a deep breath.
“The baby’s father is dead.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He died before she was born.”
“How?”
Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
“He was investigating Nolan.”
The room went completely silent.
I stared at her.
“Who was he?”
Emma looked toward the locked front door.
Then she whispered:
“He was the man Nolan was paying to keep me quiet.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What?”
Emma shook her head.
“He changed his mind.”
“And that’s why he died?”
She nodded.
Then she reached into the diaper bag one more time.
“This is why I came back.”
She handed me a tiny USB drive.
“Nolan doesn’t know I still have this.”
I looked at it.
“What is on it?”
Emma’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Everything.”
Before I could ask another question, headlights swept across the living-room curtains.
Emma froze.
I slowly turned toward the window.
A car had just pulled into the driveway.
It was Nolan.
But he wasn’t supposed to be home for another three hours.
Emma grabbed my arm.
“Mom…”
Her voice trembled.
“He knows I’m here.”
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