Chapter 6 - What My Husband KnewI let David in.
Dignity told me to close the door in Allison’s face.
This woman had slept with my husband.
She had accepted gifts bought while we were still married.
She had sat across from me at a charity dinner wearing earrings David claimed were for “a client.”
She had let an entire family celebrate her babies as replacements for mine.
Instinct said she was terrified.
And pregnant with twins.
I opened the door.
“Five minutes,” I said.
Allison stepped inside.
The first thing she did was look around.
“Are the children here?”
“No.”
“Good.”
That irritated me.
“They’re good because they’re with my brother, not because you get an opinion.”
She flinched.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve considerably more than that, but we don’t have time.”
I pointed toward the sofa.
“Talk.”
She remained standing.
“My relationship with David was real.”
I laughed.
“Excellent opening.”
“Not the way you think.”
“You slept with my husband.”
“Yes.”
“Then I understand the important part.”
Her face flushed.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I’m asking you to understand why I got close to him.”
I crossed my arms.
“Try me.”
Allison reached into her handbag and placed a small external hard drive on the coffee table.
“Nathan and I met almost two years ago.”
“You were together?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he was a Whitmore?”
“Not initially.”
She sat carefully.
“We met in Boston. He was working as a financial consultant under his mother’s surname. I found out who he was six months later.”
“And you stayed with him.”
“I loved him.”
Past tense.
“Loved?”
Allison looked down.
“I still do.”
That surprised me.
“Then why David?”
“Because Nathan had spent years trying to prove what Thomas did. But every document he had was a copy. Every witness was afraid. Every trail ended with a shell company or a confidentiality agreement.”
“So you decided to sleep with David?”
Her eyes hardened.
“I decided to get hired by Whitmore Holdings.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“No.”
“Then answer it.”
She took a breath.
“David pursued me.”
I said nothing.
“He invited me to dinner during my third week. I refused. He kept asking.”
“That sounds like David.”
“I told Nathan.”
My stomach turned.
“He knew?”
“He hated it. We fought.”
“But eventually?”
“Nathan believed David had access to Thomas’s private office and archival records.”
I stared at her.
“You used David.”
“Yes.”
“And you slept with him to gain access.”
Allison closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Whatever satisfaction I might have expected from hearing that never came.
It was uglier than revenge.
Everyone had used everyone.
David used me for stability.
Allison used David for access.
Thomas used his children for legacy.
Nathan used Allison for evidence.
And in the middle were children who had never agreed to become leverage.
“How did David believe the babies were his?” I asked.
“I told him I was sixteen weeks pregnant.”
“But you were already pregnant when you met.”
“Yes.”
“Why risk an ultrasound?”
“I planned to tell him before that appointment.”
“You had months.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I found the ledger two days before your divorce.”
I looked at the hard drive.
“Where?”
“Thomas’s private archive.”
“How?”
“David gave me his access card.”
Of course he did.
“He wanted to impress me. He kept telling me I would eventually be part of the family, that there shouldn’t be secrets between us.”
Her mouth twisted bitterly.
“The irony isn’t lost on me.”
“What’s in the ledger?”
“Original transaction codes showing Thomas authorized the transfers Nathan was blamed for.”
My heart beat faster.
“What transfers?”
“Money moved out of a pension reserve during the recession.”
“How much?”
“Not two million.”
Allison looked at me.
“Forty-three million.”
I sat down.
“That’s impossible.”
“It was disguised across multiple subsidiaries. Nathan discovered it. Thomas redirected a small portion through accounts linked to Nathan and accused him of theft before Nathan could deliver his report to the full board.”
“Why would Thomas steal from his own company?”
“He didn’t take the money personally.”
“What did he do with it?”
“He used it to save a failing acquisition without notifying lenders or shareholders. If the truth came out, Whitmore Holdings could have breached debt covenants and collapsed.”
“So he sacrificed Nathan.”
“Yes.”
“Does David know?”
Allison hesitated.
That hesitation frightened me more than her answer.
“How much does David know?”
“He knew Nathan hadn’t stolen the money.”
I felt something inside me drop.
“What?”
“He didn’t know the full amount. But he knew the evidence against Nathan had been manufactured.”
My mouth went dry.
“How?”
“Nathan told him.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Eight years.
David and I had been married for three.
Liam had been a baby.
David had known his cousin was being destroyed by a lie.
And he stayed silent.
“Why?”
Allison’s eyes filled.
“Thomas promised David Nathan’s executive position.”
I stood so quickly the room shifted.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Emma—”
“No.”
Because suddenly I remembered David’s promotion.
Vice president at twenty-nine.
Thomas hosting a dinner.
Everyone congratulating him.
Nathan’s name disappearing.
David telling me, Dad finally sees what I can do.
I had been proud.
God.
I had been proud.
“David let his cousin take the blame so he could get promoted.”
“Yes.”
I walked to the window.
For years, I believed the affair was the worst thing David had ever done.
It wasn’t even close.
Behind me, Allison said, “That’s why Nathan wanted proof.”
“And that justifies what you did?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I thought I could expose Thomas and leave before anyone got hurt.”
I turned.
“Anyone?”
She looked ashamed.
“I know.”
“My children were already hurt.”
“I know.”
“My son overheard David tell someone your baby would be the son he could ‘finally raise right.’”
Allison covered her mouth.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know.”
“He was nine years old.”
Tears ran down her face.
For once, I didn’t care.
“Where’s Nathan?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He stopped answering me after he learned I slept with David.”
That, at least, sounded human.
“He agreed to provide the DNA sample through his attorney because of the babies. But he hasn’t spoken to me directly.”
“Why come here?”
“Because Thomas knows I copied the ledger.”
“How?”
“I accessed the archive with David’s card. Security logs.”
“And why not go to the police?”
“The ledger proves corporate misconduct. Nathan’s attorneys are preparing that. But Thomas has people watching me. I don’t know who to trust.”
“You trust me?”
“No.”
I almost smiled.
“At least we agree on something.”
“I trust that you hate Thomas more than you hate me.”
“You’re making assumptions.”
“I trust that you’ll protect children.”
That stopped me.
Allison placed both hands over her stomach.
“One of the twins may need surgery immediately after birth.”
Her voice broke.
“I don’t care about the company anymore. I don’t care about winning. I want them safe.”
I looked at her.
For a second, she wasn’t David’s mistress.
She was a frightened mother.
That did not erase what she had done.
But I understood fear.
“What do you want from me?”
“Give the drive to someone Thomas can’t control.”
“Rachel?”
“No.”
“Edward?”
Allison nodded.
“The trustee.”
“How do you know him?”
“Nathan said Edward was one of the only people who believed him eight years ago.”
I picked up the hard drive.
“Is this the only copy?”
“No.”
“Where’s the original ledger?”
She didn’t answer.
“Allison.”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“If I tell you, you become useful to Thomas.”
I hated that she had a point.
My phone rang.
Rachel.
I answered.
“Emma, are you alone?”
I looked at Allison.
“No.”
“Who’s with you?”
Before I could answer, someone hammered on the downstairs building door.
Allison went white.
Again.
Harder.
Then my phone displayed a security notification.
Three men in dark suits stood in the lobby.
I recognized one.
Thomas Whitmore’s personal security director.
Allison whispered, “They found me.”
Rachel heard her.
“Is that Allison?”
“Yes.”
“Emma, listen carefully. Do not open the door.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Daniel has security?”
“Yes.”
“Call them. Now.”
Another sound.
Not downstairs.
Outside my apartment.
Footsteps.
Allison grabbed my arm.
“How?”
I pulled away.
The bell rang.
Then a man’s voice.
“Ms. Bennett, we’re here on behalf of Mr. Whitmore. We only want to speak with Ms. Reed.”
I walked toward the door but didn’t open it.
“She doesn’t want to speak with you.”
“This is a private family matter.”
I almost laughed.
“So was my divorce.”
“Ms. Bennett—”
“No.”
Silence.
Then a second voice spoke.
“Emma?”
I froze.
David.
I looked through the peephole.
He stood behind the security men.
No tie.
Unshaven.
A bruise faintly visible along his cheek.
He had flown across the Atlantic.
“Emma,” he said again. “Please open the door.”
I didn’t.
“What are you doing here?”
“Stopping my father.”
Behind me, Allison whispered, “Don’t believe him.”
David apparently heard her.
“Allison, I know about Nathan.”
She said nothing.
“I know about the ledger.”
My grip tightened on the hard drive.
David leaned closer to the door.
“And I know my father has already filed documents accusing Emma of kidnapping the children.”
My blood turned cold.
“He what?”
“He knows the custody case is collapsing.”
David’s voice shook.
“So he’s changing the story.”
Rachel cursed through my phone.
David continued.
“He’s telling the board Emma took the children to blackmail the company.”
“That’s insane.”
“I know.”
“Then why are his security men standing outside my door?”
David looked behind him.
“They’re not his anymore.”
One of the men held up an identification card.
Private security company.
Not Whitmore employees.
David said quietly:
“I hired them.”
For the first time since our divorce, he sounded like the man I once believed he could be.
“I brought something Thomas never expected me to keep.”
He lifted a thick envelope.
“My copy of Nathan’s original report.”
May you like
Allison stopped breathing.
And suddenly the man who had helped bury the truth eight years earlier was standing outside my apartment, holding the evidence that could finally dig it back up.
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