Chapter 5 - The House That Remembered
Two years earlier, Ruby’s design studio had been burglarized.
The thieves took computers, client contracts and prototypes worth nearly eighty thousand dollars. Afterward, Ruby installed a private security system in both the studio and her home.
Jameson complained that the cameras were excessive.
Ruby compromised by placing them only near entrances, the home office, the garage and the upstairs hallway.
The footage uploaded automatically to a protected cloud account registered solely in her name.
No one else knew the password.
Standing in the office doorway, Ruby understood that Jameson’s plan contained one fatal weakness.
The house remembered everything.
Ruby softened her voice.
“You’re right,” she told Jameson. “We shouldn’t fight in front of Lily.”
His shoulders relaxed.
Evelyn smiled from the hallway.
Ruby continued, “I’ll pack a few things.”
“That’s sensible,” the attorney said.
Ruby walked upstairs, carrying Lily with her.
Inside the bedroom, Celeste’s suitcase had been opened across the bench. Dresses hung in Ruby’s closet beside her own clothes. Makeup covered the bathroom counter.
Ruby set Lily on the bed.
“Sweetheart, we’re going to visit Grandma and Grandpa.”
“For how long?”
“A little while.”
“Is Daddy coming?”
Ruby sat beside her.
“No.”
Lily’s lower lip trembled. “Did I do something bad?”
The question broke Ruby more completely than Jameson’s affair.
“No.” Ruby pulled her close. “None of this is because of you. You are loved more than anything in the world.”
“Does Daddy still love me?”
“Yes,” Ruby said, though she no longer knew what Jameson was capable of calling love.
Ruby packed Lily’s clothes first.
Then she opened her laptop.
The security application showed four active cameras.
She selected the previous twelve hours.
At 2:14 a.m., after Ruby had gone to bed, Jameson entered the office with Evelyn. They searched the filing cabinet.
At 2:31, Celeste arrived through the garage.
Ruby watched silently as Jameson kissed her beneath the camera.
At 3:02, Evelyn held up Ruby’s passport and laughed.
At 3:18, Jameson removed the deed from its folder and photographed every page.
At 3:47, he made a phone call.
“The transfer will look legitimate,” he said. “Ruby’s signature is easy.”
Ruby froze.
She replayed the sentence.
Then again.
At 4:05, Jameson used Ruby’s printer to produce a document. Evelyn practiced signing Ruby’s name on a sheet of paper.
Celeste stood nearby.
“She’ll never accept the settlement,” Celeste said.
“She won’t have a choice,” Jameson replied. “Once the house appears jointly owned, we pressure her to sell. She can keep her company. I keep half the house and the money she just used to clear the debt.”
Evelyn smiled. “You’re finally thinking like a Mercer.”
Ruby’s hands began to shake.
This was no longer only a divorce scheme.
They were preparing fraud.
She downloaded the footage to three separate locations and emailed a copy to herself. Then she sent it to her attorney, Rachel Kim, with one sentence:
Call me immediately. My husband is forging property documents inside my home.
Rachel called within thirty seconds.
“Are you safe?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
“Do they know you have the footage?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way. Take Lily and leave.”
“They have my passport and jewelry.”
“Those can be recovered.”
“They also have the deed.”
“The recorded deed is stored with the county. A stolen copy changes nothing.”
Ruby looked at the security feed.
Jameson was downstairs, opening a bottle of champagne.
“They think they’ve won,” Ruby said.
“Let them think that for a few more minutes.”
“What should I do?”
“Pack. Do not confront them. I’m contacting the police and the property-fraud unit.”
Ruby closed the laptop.
For the first time that morning, she smiled.
May you like
Not because she was happy.
Because she was ready.
