Chapter 11 - What Alyssa Believed
I had imagined Alyssa Grant as someone who knew exactly what she was doing.
The red dress.
The hand on Derek's wrist.
The jewelry box.
The caption about promises.
In my mind, she had become a villain because villains were easier to understand than women who made complicated mistakes.
Then she called me.
Her voice did not sound triumphant.
It sounded exhausted.
"Derek told me you were separated."
I closed my eyes.
"We weren't."
"I know that now."
"When did he tell you that?"
"Last spring."
My grip tightened around the phone.
That was before I was six months pregnant.
"What exactly did he say?"
Alyssa hesitated.
"That you were staying together until the baby came because you were financially dependent on him."
I almost laughed.
Even in his lie to his mistress, Derek had found a way to insult me.
"He said the marriage was over emotionally."
"It wasn't."
"I know."
"Did he tell you I knew about you?"
"He said you did."
My stomach turned.
"He said you had agreed to keep things private until after the birth."
I stood and walked toward the window.
Rachel watched me from the couch.
"Why would you believe that?"
Alyssa's answer came quietly.
"Because he showed me messages."
Of course he did.
"Whose messages?"
"Yours."
My pulse jumped.
"What messages?"
"Screenshots where you said you were done with the marriage."
I remembered sending things like that during fights.
I'm done having this conversation.
I'm done apologizing.
I can't do this tonight.
Derek could turn fragments into anything.
"Did he show you full conversations?"
Alyssa was silent.
"No."
I sat down slowly.
The MEGAN folder was not just preparation for court.
It had been a tool for every audience.
Different edit.
Different purpose.
Same source.
"What did you mean when you said he was hiding something worse?"
Alyssa took a long breath.
"He planned the custody fight before Emily was born."
Rachel heard that from across the room.
She stood.
"How do you know?"
Alyssa must have heard her.
"Because he talked about it with me."
I could not speak.
"How early?"
"At least two months before your due date."
My hand went to my stomach even though Emily was asleep upstairs.
"What did he say?"
"That if you left, he would file immediately."
"Why?"
"He said the first person to frame the problem usually wins."
The sentence sounded so much like Derek that my skin prickled.
Alyssa continued.
"He said he had documentation that you were unstable."
"The recordings?"
"He didn't tell me they were edited."
"What did he tell you?"
"That he had years of evidence."
Rachel covered her mouth.
I remembered Nora saying the oldest folder began during our first year of marriage.
"Did he say why he wanted custody?"
Alyssa paused.
That pause was worse than the answer.
"He said if you had primary custody, you could use Emily to control his money and schedule."
I stared at the wall.
He had accused me of the thing he feared losing most.
Control.
"He also said his mother could help with childcare."
Helen.
Of course.
"And what did you say?"
Alyssa's voice broke.
"I told him a baby needed her mother."
That surprised me.
"He got angry."
"At you?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't that make you leave?"
"Because I believed him when he said you were manipulating him."
There was no good answer to that.
I had believed him too.
About me.
Alyssa asked whether I remembered a weekend in July when Derek said he had a conference in Cincinnati.
I did.
He had been gone two nights.
I had assembled most of Emily's crib by myself while he was away.
"He wasn't in Cincinnati," Alyssa said.
"Where was he?"
"Chicago."
"With you?"
"For one night."
"And the other?"
"With Martin Kessler."
I felt my heartbeat in my ears.
"His lawyer?"
"They met with a private investigator."
Rachel whispered, "What?"
Alyssa hurried on.
"I don't know what they discussed."
"How do you know there was an investigator?"
"Derek left the itinerary open on his tablet."
"Do you still have it?"
"I have a picture."
Evelyn would want it.
"Why did you take a picture?"
Alyssa laughed bitterly.
"Because I was starting to wonder whether he was lying to me too."
The room went silent.
"When did you realize?"
"The night Emily was born."
I closed my eyes.
"At dinner?"
"Before dinner."
Alyssa's voice became smaller.
"He told me you were having contractions."
Rachel's face changed.
I gripped the phone.
"He told you?"
"Yes."
"Before he left the house?"
"Yes."
The betrayal rearranged itself inside me.
Derek had not pushed the reality of my labor out of his mind.
He had carried it with him to dinner.
He had told her.
"What exactly did he say?"
"He texted me that you were being dramatic and that you could take a cab if it was real."
The room tilted.
"Do you have that text?"
"Yes."
"Send it to Evelyn."
"I already spoke to Nora's lawyer."
"Why?"
"Because Derek called me yesterday."
"What did he want?"
Alyssa's voice hardened.
"He wanted me to sign a statement saying the dinner was strictly business."
Rachel swore.
"Did you?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"He told me I had as much to lose as he did."
"Did he threaten you?"
"Not directly."
I knew exactly what that meant.
Derek rarely threatened directly.
He preferred to describe consequences as if they were weather.
Alyssa continued.
"Then he reminded me that my father is his boss."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"D.W. Consulting received reimbursements from my father's company."
My stomach dropped.
"Did you know about those?"
"Not at first."
"Are they legitimate?"
"No."
One word.
Absolute.
Rachel sat beside me.
"How do you know?"
"Because some of the client events never happened."
I thought about Leonard's arrows.
"Derek submitted fake expenses?"
"At least some."
Alyssa sounded close to tears.
"And he put my name on the LLC because he told me it would be our investment company after the divorce."
"Did you sign anything?"
"Yes."
"Did you receive money?"
"No."
"Did you know he was moving marital funds into it?"
"No."
I believed her.
Not because I wanted to.
Because her shame sounded too familiar.
Derek had told each of us a version that made dependence look like partnership.
Mine was marriage.
Hers was a future.
Nora's was work.
"What was in the jewelry box?" I asked.
Alyssa went quiet.
"A ring."
I expected pain.
Instead, I felt almost nothing.
"Engagement?"
"He called it a promise ring."
I laughed once.
The absurdity was too complete.
"He left his wife in labor to give his girlfriend a promise ring."
Alyssa began crying.
"I didn't know you were alone."
I looked at Rachel.
Then at the family photo she had placed face down on a shelf because it showed Derek and me smiling at my baby shower.
"I believe you."
The words surprised both of us.
"Why?"
"Because he lied to me for years and I slept beside him."
Alyssa was silent.
"I'm not going to pretend what you did doesn't hurt."
"I know."
"But he is responsible for what he lied about."
"I know."
I heard her exhale.
"I'll give your attorney everything."
"Talk to your own lawyer first."
Evelyn had taught me that.
"I already have one."
"Good."
Before we ended the call, Alyssa said one more thing.
"Megan?"
"Yes."
"He kept saying the baby would solve everything."
"What did that mean?"
"I thought he meant the divorce would be easier after she was born."
"And now?"
Alyssa's voice became very quiet.
"Now I think he meant Emily would make sure you could never really leave him."
The next morning, Evelyn received Alyssa's evidence.
Dozens of messages.
Photos.
The Chicago itinerary.
Derek's statement that I could take a cab if labor was real.
And one message sent three weeks before Emily's birth.
If Megan bolts, I file before she has time to breathe.
The first story wins.
Evelyn printed it.
Then she looked at me.
"This changes the case."
I should have felt relieved.
Instead, I felt afraid.
Because Derek was no longer improvising.
May you like
He had been planning this before I knew there was a fight.
And men who plan that far ahead rarely keep only one plan.
