Chapter 3 - FORTY-THREE MINUTES
The recording began with Emily's voice.
“Dad, move away from the door.”
Cole sat perfectly still.
Richard didn't.
“This is unnecessary.”
Ruiz raised one hand.
“You wanted everyone to hear your explanation.”
Richard stopped talking.
The recording continued.
Carol's voice came next.
“Emily deserves to know.”
Then Richard.
“She deserves peace.”
Emily.
“You told her I died.”
Silence.
Then something crashed.
Cole looked at his wife.
“That was the lamp.”
Emily whispered.
On the recording, Richard shouted.
“You don't understand what I protected you from.”
Emily's voice rose.
“Don't touch me.”
Cole's fingers tightened around the edge of the sofa.
Then came the sound.
A struggle.
Emily gasping.
Carol shouting.
“Richard, let her go.”
And finally Emily screaming.
“Get your hands off me.”
Cole closed his eyes for one second.
Only one.
When he opened them, his expression was different.
Controlled.
Cold.
Ruiz stopped the recording.
Cole looked at Emily.
“Those scratches.”
Emily nodded.
“Dad grabbed me.”
Richard immediately spoke.
“She was trying to leave.”
Cole stood.
Ruiz stepped forward instinctively.
Cole noticed.
“I'm not going to hit him.”
Ruiz relaxed slightly.
Cole walked toward Richard.
He stopped several feet away.
“You grabbed my pregnant wife because she wanted to leave?”
Richard lifted his chin.
“She was hysterical.”
Cole stared at him.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You keep describing her emotions instead of your actions.”
Richard's face tightened.
Cole turned toward Ruiz.
“Has he been arrested?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
Emily stood.
“Because I told them not to.”
Cole turned.
She looked ashamed.
“I didn't want Dad arrested.”
Richard immediately seized the opportunity.
“Because she understands this was a misunderstanding.”
Emily looked at him.
“No.”
Richard stopped.
“I didn't want you arrested because you're my father.”
Her voice strengthened.
“But I'm starting to understand that you've used that sentence against me my entire life.”
Carol began crying quietly.
Emily looked at her.
“Did he really tell you I died?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you ever look for me?”
“I did.”
Richard interrupted.
“She's lying.”
Carol reached inside her robe.
She removed a folded envelope.
Then another.
Then another.
Dozens.
“All returned.”
She placed them on the table.
Emily picked one up.
RETURN TO SENDER.
Another.
ADDRESS UNKNOWN.
Another.
DECEASED.
Emily froze.
The word was stamped across the front.
Carol's tears fell freely.
“He told people you were dead.”
Emily looked at Richard.
“Why?”
Richard's face hardened.
“Because Diane couldn't have children.”
Emily's breathing stopped.
Richard continued.
“And she wanted a daughter.”
Cole stared at him.
“You stole a baby for your wife.”
Richard slammed his palm against the table.
“I raised my daughter.”
Carol shouted back.
“She was my daughter first.”
Emily flinched.
Cole immediately stepped between everyone.
“Stop.”
The room fell silent.
He looked at Carol.
“Emily isn't property.”
Then Richard.
“She isn't a secret you own.”
Finally he turned to Emily.
“You decide what happens next.”
Emily looked around the room.
For the first time since Cole arrived, she stood completely straight.
“I want the truth.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“You think that's what you want.”
Emily stared at him.
“It is.”
Richard's eyes narrowed.
“Then ask your mother why she was really in this house tonight.”
Emily turned toward Carol.
Carol went pale.
Cole noticed.
May you like
There was another secret.
And judging by Carol's expression, it might be worse than the first.
