Chapter 5
By morning, Nora Singh, my attorney, was in my kitchen.
She had represented me after Laura died.
She knew every clause of Noah’s trust.
When she saw the forged prenup, her face went flat.
Flat was dangerous for Nora.
“Vanessa and Marvin tried to make Noah’s trust vulnerable through marital asset conversion.”
“In English.”
“They wanted you married fast, then declared unstable, then pressured into giving Vanessa control as spouse.”
I looked toward the living room where Noah slept against Grace.
“What about the fake pregnancy?”
Nora tapped the paper.
“A sympathy weapon. If she claimed a miscarriage caused by stress or by Noah, she could argue your household was unsafe.”
My throat closed.
“They were going to blame my son for losing a baby that never existed.”
“Yes.”
I sat down.
For a moment, I could not hear anything except Noah crying in the video.
Daddy will send me away.
I had almost married the woman who said that to him.
Nora softened.
“You saw it in time.”
“No. Noah saw it.”
“That matters too.”
Detective Brooks searched Vanessa’s apartment.
They found more.
Three fake ultrasound images.
A receipt for prosthetic bellies.
A hidden camera she had installed in Noah’s playroom.
A journal full of notes.
Noah reacts to guilt.
Daniel responds to helplessness.
Elaine can be managed through fear of Daniel being alone.
My mother read that line and cried.
Vanessa had studied us.
Our grief.
Our love.
Our weak points.
Then the detective found one more folder.
Labeled Laura Problem.
I stared at the name.
My dead wife’s name.
Nora opened it carefully.
Inside were old medical records.
Laura’s life insurance.
Trust documents.
May you like
And a photo of Vanessa standing beside Laura.
Years before Vanessa claimed she had never met her.
