Chapter 4 - WHAT THEY PLANNED FOR MY BABY
We drove to the law firm apartment in silence.
Lauren followed in her own car.
I kept one hand over my stomach the entire way.
The baby moved twice.
Each movement felt like a promise I was suddenly terrified I could not keep.
The apartment was on the eleventh floor of a building downtown.
It had plain furniture, blackout curtains, and no family photographs.
Olivia locked the door behind us.
Then she placed Lauren’s flash drive on the kitchen counter.
“No one touches this until I make a forensic copy.”
Lauren nodded.
Robert looked exhausted.
I did not care.
“Tell me what they planned.”
Lauren sat at the far end of the table.
She twisted a tissue between her fingers.
“I worked for Nathan for almost three years.”
“I know.”
“At first, I thought Marlow was just a way for Margaret to take consulting fees out of the company.”
Robert’s expression sharpened.
“How much?”
“About nine hundred thousand over six years.”
Robert swore under his breath.
Lauren continued.
“Then Nathan started using it for personal debts.”
“What kind of debts?”
“Loans.”
“Credit cards.”
“Private investments.”
“Some gambling.”
I closed my eyes.
Nathan had always mocked gamblers.
He said he hated people who believed luck could replace discipline.
Apparently, hypocrisy had been one of his cheaper habits.
Lauren watched me carefully.
“About a year ago, he learned your father’s lake property had been rezoned.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
“Commercial mixed-use.”
I stared at her.
The cabin and woods sat near a highway extension that had been discussed for years.
I had never followed the zoning meetings.
“How much is it worth?”
Robert answered this time.
“Potentially six to eight million.”
My mouth went dry.
Nathan had known.
I had not.
Lauren continued.
“He could not sell it because it was separate property in your name.”
“So he forged the power of attorney.”
“Yes.”
“And borrowed against it.”
“Yes.”
“But that still doesn’t explain the baby.”
Lauren looked down.
“No.”
She took a breath.
“The loan matures six weeks after your due date.”
I felt cold despite the warm apartment.
“If the loan defaults, Northstar can take the property.”
“Who owns Northstar?”
Lauren’s eyes shifted toward Robert.
He looked at her sharply.
“Who owns it?”
Lauren hesitated.
“A holding company in Delaware.”
“And who owns that?”
“I could never prove it.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I heard Margaret say the name of the real investor.”
Robert’s face changed.
“What name?”
Lauren looked directly at him.
“Paul Hayes.”
Robert’s younger brother.
The same man who had sat at the Thanksgiving table complaining that family business should not be discussed during dinner.
The same man who had left the room before the ambulance arrived.
Robert stood so abruptly his chair hit the wall.
“No.”
Lauren nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“He would not do that.”
“Your son did.”
The words were gentle, but brutal.
Robert sat back down.
I suddenly remembered Paul laughing after Margaret slapped me.
Not loudly.
Just one sharp sound from the other end of the table.
At the time, I had not looked to see who it was.
Now I knew.
I felt sick again.
“What does any of this have to do with me being declared incapable?”
Lauren rubbed her palms together.
“Nathan needed a reason to control your property without relying on the forged power of attorney forever.”
“He knew the forgery could be challenged.”
“So he started creating a record.”
“What kind of record?”
Her answer made my skin crawl.
“Medical.”
I stared at her.
“He told people you were forgetful.”
“He told his mother you were emotionally unstable during pregnancy.”
“He told coworkers you had panic attacks.”
“He made notes after arguments.”
“He saved texts where you sounded upset and deleted the messages that came before them.”
I remembered dozens of strange conversations.
Nathan asking me whether I had taken my vitamins as if I were confused.
Nathan reminding me of plans I had never made.
Nathan insisting I had misplaced documents that I had never touched.
I had thought he was becoming patronizing.
He had been building a story.
Lauren continued.
“After the baby was born, they planned to argue that postpartum complications made you unable to manage finances.”
“They wanted a temporary conservatorship.”
My chair felt too small beneath me.
“Who would be conservator?”
“Nathan.”
“Of course.”
“And once he had authority, he could settle the Northstar loan by transferring the lake property.”
“To Paul.”
Lauren nodded.
My father’s land.
My inheritance.
My money.
My child.
They had turned every part of my life into paperwork.
Olivia returned from the second bedroom carrying her laptop.
“I made two encrypted copies.”
She inserted the flash drive into an isolated device.
“Lauren, tell me which recording matters most.”
Lauren gave her a file name.
Olivia clicked it.
Static filled the room.
Then Margaret’s voice.
“…she won’t fight once the baby is here.”
Nathan answered.
“You don’t know Emily.”
“I know women like Emily.”
My mother-in-law sounded amused.
“They think endurance is strength.”
“They keep forgiving until there is nothing left to take.”
My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
Nathan spoke again.
“What if Dad notices?”
“He has ignored everything else.”
Robert flinched.
Margaret continued.
“After the delivery, you document that she is overwhelmed.”
“The doctor signs whatever needs signing.”
“Paul handles Northstar.”
“You take control of the trust accounts.”
“And by the time she understands what happened, the land is gone.”
There was a pause.
Then Nathan asked a question that made my blood run cold.
“And the baby?”
Margaret answered without hesitation.
“You keep the baby.”
My vision blurred.
The recording continued.
Nathan sounded uncertain.
“She’ll never agree.”
“She will if a judge thinks she is unstable.”
I stood so fast that the chair toppled behind me.
Olivia paused the audio.
No one spoke.
I walked to the window because I could not bear to look at any of them.
The city lights below looked distant and unreal.
My hand throbbed beneath the bandage.
The baby shifted inside me.
I pressed my palm against my stomach.
“They were going to take my child.”
Lauren’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Robert stood behind me, but he did not come closer.
“I will destroy them.”
I turned around.
“No.”
He looked startled.
“You don’t get to decide what happens now.”
He stared at me.
“This is my son.”
“And my life.”
His face tightened.
I continued.
“You had years to decide what kind of father you wanted to be.”
“You looked away.”
“You don’t get to become the hero because you finally opened an envelope.”
The words hurt him.
I could see it.
I did not regret them.
Olivia closed the laptop.
“Emily is right.”
Robert looked at her.
“This is now a potential criminal matter involving identity theft, fraud, forged instruments, and possibly conspiracy.”
“We need to preserve evidence and stop them from moving assets.”
Lauren shook her head.
“There is something else.”
I nearly laughed again.
“Does that sentence ever end well?”
Lauren did not smile.
“The recording mentions a doctor.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who?”
I thought of my obstetrician, Dr. Karen Lowe.
She had always seemed kind.
“No.”
Lauren looked at Olivia.
“I found payments from Marlow to a medical consulting company.”
Olivia’s expression changed.
“What company?”
Lauren named it.
I knew the name.
It was printed on every invoice from my obstetrician’s practice.
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
Lauren’s face told me she wished she were wrong.
“I think your doctor has been taking money from them.”
Before anyone could speak, my phone buzzed on the counter.
A new message appeared from Dr. Lowe’s office.
EMILY, WE NEED TO DISCUSS YOUR RECENT TEST RESULTS IMMEDIATELY.
PLEASE DO NOT DELAY.
I stared at the screen.
Then a second message arrived from Nathan.
May you like
DO NOT TRUST WHAT THEY TELL YOU ABOUT THE BABY.
