Chapter 7 - The Woman Carrying His Child
The door opened before Bryce could break it.
Not because Marlene surrendered.
Because security arrived behind him.
Sloane had activated the silent alarm on her phone when she entered the east wing. The security manager and two guards ordered Bryce to step away.
Bryce raised his hands.
“This is a family misunderstanding.”
Sloane opened the door while holding the external drive.
“No. It is a financial conspiracy.”
Bryce saw the drive.
His face became expressionless.
“Whatever my mother told you, she is protecting herself.”
Marlene stood behind Sloane.
“For once, I am protecting someone else.”
Bryce almost smiled.
“You have never done that in your life.”
The cruelty in his voice landed harder than any physical blow.
Marlene lowered her eyes.
Sloane instructed security to escort Bryce and Martin from the property. Both refused until police arrived.
By midnight, formal statements had been taken. The recording, laptop and legal documents were secured as evidence.
The police did not arrest Bryce that night.
His attorney argued that the recording lacked context, the transfers had possible business explanations and the unsigned house documents had no legal effect.
Sloane understood what the delay meant.
Bryce still had time to destroy evidence.
By morning, he had already acted.
He filed an emergency petition claiming that Sloane was mentally unstable and mismanaging company assets. The medical reports Marlene had described were attached.
Two board members requested a special meeting.
Several news outlets received anonymous information suggesting that Sloane had falsely accused her husband after discovering his relationship with another woman.
The scandal grew before breakfast.
Sloane remained in the mansion with Gavin and Marlene. She had allowed Marlene to stay under strict security because placing her outside the house would have made her vulnerable to Bryce.
Marlene spent most of the morning in silence.
Gavin avoided her.
At ten, Naomi arrived with Adrian.
“The emergency petition is weak,” Naomi said. “But the medical reports create delay.”
“They are fake.”
“We know that. The court does not know it yet.”
“What about the recording?”
“The police are authenticating it.”
“And the company?”
“Bryce has contacted minority shareholders. He is presenting himself as the executive protecting the business from a family crisis.”
Sloane looked at Adrian.
“Can we prove he framed Gavin?”
“Yes, but we still need the connection between Bryce and the administrator who deleted the server logs.”
“Find it.”
“I am trying.”
A security guard entered the library.
“There is a woman at the gate asking for Mrs. Whitmore.”
“Who?”
“Emilia Rowe.”
Every person in the room became still.
Sloane instructed security to bring her inside.
Emilia entered wearing a long gray coat. The pregnancy was unmistakable. She carried a leather folder against her chest and looked as if she had not slept.
Marlene immediately stood.
“You should not be here.”
Emilia looked at her.
“You told me Sloane would be removed from the house by today.”
Sloane turned toward Marlene.
“You contacted her after the dinner?”
“I did not.”
Emilia’s gaze moved around the room.
“Bryce said Marlene had everything under control.”
“Bryce lies,” Sloane said. “You should know that better than anyone.”
Emilia’s face tightened.
“He told me you had been separated for over a year.”
“He sleeps in my bedroom.”
“He said it was for appearances.”
“He also said my house would belong to your child.”
Emilia placed the folder on the table.
“I did not know the documents were fraudulent.”
“You notarized them.”
“I notarized copies after Bryce showed me papers he claimed you had already signed.”
“Did you verify the signature?”
“He said Martin had witnessed it.”
Naomi opened the folder.
Inside were drafts of the property trust, medical reports and copies of emails between Bryce and Emilia.
One email described Sloane as seriously ill.
Another promised that Bryce and Emilia would marry once the city project closed.
A third contained instructions for a bank transfer.
Emilia sat down slowly.
“I learned the truth last night.”
“How?” Sloane asked.
“Bryce called after the dinner. He told me to leave the city. He said you had become dangerous.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I opened a sealed envelope he had told me never to touch.”
She removed a document from the folder.
It was a proposed custody agreement.
Bryce would receive full legal control over the child immediately after birth.
Emilia’s name appeared only as the biological mother.
“He planned to take my baby,” she said.
Marlene looked at her son’s handwriting on the document.
“He always wanted an heir,” she whispered.
Sloane looked toward her.
“An heir to what?”
Marlene did not answer.
Emilia reached inside her coat and removed a phone.
“I recorded my conversation with Bryce this morning.”
She played the audio.
Bryce’s voice filled the library.
You will leave todayEmilia replied, I want nothing from you.
You wanted a family.
Not like this.
You made choices. Now you will follow instructions.
What happens to Sloane?
That is no longer your concern.
And the baby?
The baby belongs to me.
The recording ended.
Emilia stared at the table.
“He threatened to accuse me of participating in the fraud if I did not disappear.”
“You did participate,” Gavin said.
Emilia looked at him.
“I know.”
Sloane studied her. Emilia was not innocent. She had accepted money, notarized documents without proper verification and continued a relationship with a married man.
But she was also carrying a child Bryce already treated as property.
“Why did you come here?” Sloane asked.
“Because Bryce is meeting someone tonight.”
“Who?”
“The woman who looks like you.”
The room became silent.
Emilia unlocked her phone and showed them a message Bryce had accidentally forwarded to her.
Midnight. Ashcroft service entrance. Bring Sloane’s identification and the original ledger page. This ends tonight.
Sloane read it twice.
The message was not signed.
May you like
But the number belonged to someone already inside Whitmore Heritage Development.
The head of information security.
