CHAPTER 3: THE FIRST THREAT
Evan had been standing beside Connor since the company’s earliest days.
Connor called him the brother he had never had.
I remembered lending Evan money when he could not afford the security deposit on his first apartment.
I remembered inviting him to holidays.
I remembered him holding Brinley’s ultrasound photograph and congratulating Connor.
Now he was kissing Connor’s pregnant fiancée in a parking garage.
Parker sent the photograph to a forensic specialist. It had not been altered.
The timestamp placed it six weeks before Brinley’s birth.
Alyssa would have been approximately seven weeks pregnant.
Before we could investigate further, Connor arrived at the guesthouse without warning.
He did not ask to see Brinley.
He walked into the living room carrying another settlement agreement.
“You have forty-eight hours,” he said.
“To do what?”
“Accept the apartment, waive your interest in the company, and agree not to discuss Alyssa’s pregnancy publicly.”
I almost smiled.
“My interest in the company?”
Connor mistook my calmness for weakness.
“You contributed nothing to building it.”
“My family financed it.”
“You introduced me to a few people.”
“My trust supplied the initial capital.”
“You were my wife. Supporting me was your responsibility.”
Behind the slightly open nursery door, my phone recorded every word.
Connor placed the agreement on the table.
“If you fight me, I’ll request a paternity test.”
My breathing slowed.
“You already know Brinley is yours.”
“I know what you claim.”
“You watched the embryo transfer.”
“That doesn’t prove what the clinic implanted.”
There it was.
The beginning of the plan.
Someone had prepared Connor to challenge Brinley’s paternity.
He leaned closer.
“Sign quietly, and I’ll let you keep enough money to raise her.”
“Your generosity is overwhelming.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think Parker can protect you?”
“I think you should leave.”
Connor smiled before walking toward the door.
At the threshold, he turned around.
“Come to the wedding. Bring Brinley. I want you to see what happens when a woman gives a man the child he actually wants.”
When he was gone, Parker stepped out of the hallway.
He had heard everything through the nursery monitor.
“That threat just destroyed his custody position,” he said.
My phone vibrated.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
You are watching the wrong woman.
Check the company transfers approved by Evan Reed.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
Do it before Connor sells what your daughter owns.
