Chapter 14 - THE ENVELOPE
Inside the envelope was a resignation agreement. It offered Teresa six months’ pay in exchange for leaving our household immediately and promising not to discuss anything she had seen there.
Attached was a typed letter accusing her of neglecting Leo.
Teresa had refused to sign.
“I wanted to show you,” she said, “but I was afraid you’d believe her.”
“I wouldn’t have.”
She gave me a tired look. “You were going to marry her, Julian.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She glanced at Leo sleeping on my shoulder. “Just take him home.”
We did. My mother sat in the back seat beside his car seat. Teresa rode with us because neither of us wanted her going anywhere alone that night.
At home, I took the renovation plans out of the nursery and put them in a box for David. Then I sat on the floor beside Leo’s crib until dawn. Each time he stirred, I reached through the bars and let him hold my finger.
Over the next few weeks, the police investigated the kidnapping and the attempted transfers. Graham was charged. The woman with the empty car seat identified him as the person who had hired her. Owen provided his messages with Graham and the forged email. Victoria turned over her phone and answered the detectives’ questions.
I ended our engagement through our attorneys. David made sure the unsigned estate document was withdrawn. Marcus changed the company’s access controls and had the bank review every pending request.
Those were practical steps. None of them told me how to walk into Leo’s room without picturing an empty crib.
One evening, Teresa found me standing in the doorway while Leo slept.
“He’s safe,” she said.
“I know.”
“You can still be scared.”
I looked at her. “I should have listened when you said Victoria wanted you gone.”
“You’re listening now.”
Two months later, I received a letter from Victoria. I left it unopened on my desk for a day, then read it with David present.
She admitted she had wanted my money and the life it could give her. She said she had convinced herself she could learn to care about Leo after the wedding. She apologized for the things she’d said and for ignoring Graham’s threats until it was too late.
At the bottom, she had written: I don’t expect you to forgive me.
I folded the letter and put it away. She was right.
That night, my mother called after Leo went to bed.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “You keep saying you failed him because you let Victoria into your lives.”
“I did.”
“You also heard the truth, canceled the wedding, and brought him home. Let that be part of the story he grows up with.”
After we hung up, I went upstairs.
Leo was awake, standing in his crib, waiting for me.
May you like
“Da,” he said.
It was the first time he’d said it while looking straight at my face.
