Chapter 4 - Two Women, One Dead, One Missing
That night Emma did not sleep.
Martha and Andrew left after Emma threatened to call police.
Daniel remained.
Not because Emma wanted him there.
Because she was not ready to let him leave with Ethan.
The legal reality was suddenly unclear.
Daniel was Ethan’s biological father.
Emma had raised Ethan.
There had never been a finalized adoption.
Martha had made sure of that.
Emma realized now how often Martha had delayed paperwork.
How many excuses had appeared.
Missing records.
Wrong signatures.
Legal complications surrounding Rebecca’s estate.
Every delay had been deliberate.
At midnight, Sophie finally slept.
Ethan sat at the kitchen table.
He had heard more than anyone realized.
“Dad?”
Daniel looked up.
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Are you my real dad?”
Emma closed her eyes.
Daniel sat beside him.
“I’m your biological father.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I helped make you.”
Ethan frowned.
“Then why did you say Aunt Rebecca was my mom?”
Daniel looked helplessly toward Emma.
Emma did not rescue him.
Daniel whispered, “Because I made a mistake.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Was she my mom or not?”
“No.”
Ethan stared at him.
Then he looked at Emma.
“Are you my mom?”
Emma’s heart nearly broke.
She knelt beside him.
“I have loved you since you were a baby.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Eight years old.
And already learning that adults hid inside careful words.
Emma touched his hand.
“I am not the woman who gave birth to you.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“But are you my mom?”
“Yes.”
The word came without hesitation.
“Yes, Ethan. If you still want me to be.”
He climbed into her arms.
Emma held him.
Over his shoulder she watched Daniel cry silently.
For the first time that day, she did not care.
After Ethan went to bed, Emma placed the folder between herself and Daniel.
“Start at the beginning.”
Daniel stared at it.
“My family owned a medical supply business.”
“I know.”
“No. The old one.”
Emma frowned.
Miller Biomedical had supposedly collapsed before she met Daniel.
Daniel’s father had built it.
After his death, Martha said the company had been buried under debt.
Daniel continued.
“My father was developing a distribution contract for specialty drugs. Huge money. Hospitals, clinics, government facilities.”
“What does this have to do with Laura?”
“She worked there.”
“As what?”
“Compliance analyst.”
Emma felt the shape of the story darkening.
“She found something.”
Daniel nodded.
“What?”
“Inventory discrepancies.”
“What kind?”
“Controlled medications disappearing from shipments.”
Emma stared.
“Stolen drugs?”
“That’s what she thought.”
“And Rebecca?”
“She worked in accounting.”
Emma leaned back.
“They knew each other.”
“They became friends.”
“And you were dating Laura.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Laura got pregnant.”
“With Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Were you happy?”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Yes.”
Emma forced herself to continue.
“Then why didn’t you marry her?”
“My mother hated her.”
“That never stopped you from marrying me.”
Daniel flinched.
Emma understood before he answered.
“Martha liked me.”
“Yes.”
“Because I didn’t know anything.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Emma felt humiliation burn through her.
Not because she had been second choice.
Because she had been chosen for ignorance.
Daniel spoke quietly.
“Laura started collecting evidence.”
“Against your mother?”
“Against the company. Maybe Mom. Maybe Andrew. I didn’t believe her.”
Emma stared at him.
“That seems to be a family tradition.”
“She said shipments were being rerouted. She found fake patient accounts. She believed someone was selling specialty drugs through private networks.”
“Did your father know?”
“He had just died.”
“When?”
“Six weeks before Ethan was born.”
Emma remembered Martha describing her husband’s heart attack.
Sudden.
Unexpected.
“What happened after Ethan was born?”
“Laura became scared.”
“Of Martha?”
“Of everyone.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“She moved out of our apartment.”
“You lived together?”
“Yes.”
Another truth omitted from his carefully edited past.
“She took Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did Ethan end up with you?”
Daniel stopped.
Emma already hated the answer.
“Rebecca brought him to me.”
“When?”
“The night she died.”
Emma stared.
Daniel’s voice shook.
“She came to my apartment carrying Ethan. He was seven months old. She had blood on her sleeve.”
“Whose blood?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Laura was in trouble. She said I needed to take Ethan and leave.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Emma stood.
She could not stay seated.
“What did you do?”
“I called Mom.”
Emma stared at him.
Again.
Every road led back to Martha.
“What happened next?”
“Mom arrived with Andrew. Rebecca was hysterical. She kept saying there was a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“I never saw it.”
“What happened to Rebecca?”
“She left.”
“With who?”
“Andrew.”
Emma looked toward the front door as though eight-year-old ghosts might appear.
“And you never saw her alive again.”
Daniel shook his head.
“What about Laura?”
“She never came back.”
Emma stared.
“And the next morning?”
“Police said Rebecca had been found dead in her car.”
“Cause?”
“Overdose.”
“And Laura?”
“Missing.”
“Did police investigate?”
“For a while.”
“With two women connected to the same company, one dead and one missing?”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“The detective handling the case was my mother’s cousin.”
Emma slowly sat down.
Of course.
She looked at the DNA report again.
“Why claim Rebecca was Ethan’s mother?”
Daniel whispered, “Because Laura’s name was dangerous.”
“To whom?”
May you like
Daniel looked at her.
“To whoever made her disappear.”
