Chapter 5 - Probably Another Fake Emergency
David had written five words.
She does this every time.
Julianne answered.
Then stop rewarding it.
My hands became numb.
Another incoming call from the ICU had appeared between their messages.
David had taken a screenshot of the hospital number.
Then he sent it to Julianne.
His message underneath said:
See?
Now she’s getting other people to call.
Julianne replied with a laughing emoji.
My vision blurred.
I handed the phone back to Adrian.
For fourteen days, I had told myself David did not know.
That had been the only mercy left.
He did not know Lily was dying.
He was selfish.
Cruel.
Unfaithful.
But he did not know.
Now even that mercy had been taken away.
He had seen the hospital number.
He had recognized that something might be wrong.
And he had chosen not to find out.
“Maya.”
David’s voice broke.
“I thought you were manipulating me.”
I stared at him.
“Our seven-year-old daughter was in intensive care.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You knew a hospital was calling.”
“I thought you told them to call me.”
A sound escaped Julianne.
Not a laugh.
Not quite.
More like disbelief.
David spun toward her.
“You told me she did things like that.”
Julianne’s face hardened.
“You told me that.”
“No.”
“You said Maya faked panic attacks whenever you traveled.”
“You said she used Lily to control you.”
David shook his head.
“You encouraged me to block her.”
“You’re blaming me?”
“You had my phone.”
“After you blocked the numbers.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“That conversation is over.”
David looked back at me.
“Maya, please.”
I had never heard him beg before.
Not when his company lost a major contract.
Not when my father refused to invest in one of his projects.
Not when I threatened to leave after finding his first affair.
But now he begged.
“I would have come home.”
I finally answered.
“You had fifty chances.”
His face collapsed.
The troopers led him toward the door.
This time I did not watch him leave.
I turned toward the windows.
Rain had begun streaking across the glass.
The same kind of rain that had fallen at Lily’s funeral.
Behind me, Julianne started crying.
“I didn’t know she was sick.”
I closed my eyes.
“I believe you.”
She sounded startled.
I turned around.
“But you knew I was his wife.”
Her lips trembled.
“And you knew Lily was his daughter.”
Julianne lowered her eyes.
There was no answer to that.
Adrian waited until the front door closed behind David.
Then he approached me quietly.
“There’s something else.”
I almost laughed from exhaustion.
“There’s always something else.”
He held the leather folder against his chest.
“This part isn’t about the affair.”
“What is it about?”
“Lily’s life insurance policy.”
My breath stopped.
“I didn’t know she had one.”
May you like
Adrian’s expression told me I was not going to like the answer.
“You didn’t.”
