Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE DRIVEWAY
Richard drove the boys straight to the urgent care clinic outside the neighborhood. Emily rode in the back with them, holding a clean towel against Liam’s arm.
Victoria followed in her own car.
Richard noticed her in the rearview mirror at the second traffic light. At the third, she pulled alongside and called him. He let it ring.
“Is Miss Emily coming home?” Noah asked.
Richard kept his eyes on the road. “I don’t know yet.”
Noah went quiet.
Emily looked out the window. She could still hear Richard’s voice from an hour earlier.
Get out. And stay away from my children.
When he had tossed cash onto the floor, she had felt every employee in the kitchen turn to look at her. She had spent three years making sure Ethan got the crusts cut off his sandwiches, Noah remembered to take his asthma inhaler on school trips, and Liam had someone to sit beside him when he woke from nightmares.
She had also spent the last month trying to tell Richard that Victoria was making the boys afraid.
He had been too busy to listen.
At the clinic, a nurse cleaned the scrapes. The injuries were shallow, but Liam needed adhesive strips on his arm, and Ethan had bruised his knee climbing through the playroom window.
A child services worker would be contacted because the boys said they had been locked in a room. Richard did not argue. He answered every question and asked the nurse to document their injuries.
Victoria arrived before the nurse finished.
“My poor boys.” She moved toward Noah with her arms open.
Noah climbed behind Emily’s chair.
Victoria froze. Richard saw it: the moment she realized he had noticed.
“They’re confused,” she said.
“Let them speak,” Richard replied.
Victoria’s eyes narrowed. “You’re letting a maid turn your children against me?”
Emily stood up. “I didn’t tell them what to say.”
“No,” Victoria said. “You just trained them to come running every time you wanted attention.”
Richard raised his hand. “Stop.”
The nurse returned with a small paper bag of bandages and a note about follow-up care. Richard thanked her. Then he turned to Victoria.
“I’m taking the boys home. You can come by tomorrow for your things.”
“Richard, we’re getting married in six weeks.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Victoria stared at him. For a second, her polished expression slipped, and Emily saw the cold anger beneath it.
Then Victoria glanced at the flash drive in Emily’s hand.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said.
She walked out.
Richard waited until the clinic door shut. “Where did Liam get that?”
Liam spoke before Emily could answer.
“From the little room next to Victoria’s office. She was on the phone in there.”
“You went into her office?”
“She left the door open. I heard her say our names.”
Richard crouched in front of him. “What else did you hear?”
May you like
Liam’s lower lip trembled.
“She said once you signed the papers, you wouldn’t be able to stop her.”
