Chapter 1 - THE CHILD THEY HAD ALREADY COUNTED OUT
Marissa heard her husband laugh before she entered Holly’s hospital room.
It was a low, exhausted laugh—the kind Derek used when he wanted cruelty to sound practical.
“She’s had a good run,” he said. “Eight years is more than some kids get.”
Marissa stopped outside the half-open door.
Holly lay beneath a thin blanket, pale against the hospital pillows, a clear oxygen tube beneath her nose. Her stuffed rabbit was tucked under one arm. The monitor beside her bed traced quick green peaks through the blue light from the Boston skyline.
Vanessa sat in the visitor’s chair with one hand resting over the curve of her stomach.
Marissa’s younger sister was seven months pregnant.
Derek stood beside her.
“We need to think about the child who still has a future,” Vanessa murmured.
Marissa pushed the door open.
Derek turned first. His face did not show guilt. It showed irritation at being interrupted.
“What child?” Marissa asked.
Vanessa rose too quickly and caught the chair for balance.
Derek adjusted the cuff of his navy suit. “We were going to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Vanessa’s hand remained over her belly.
“A boy,” she whispered.
Marissa looked from her sister to her husband of twelve years.
Holly’s monitor continued its steady rhythm.
Derek stepped toward Marissa.
“This isn’t the place.”
“You were discussing my daughter’s death beside her bed.”
“Our daughter,” he corrected. “And I’m discussing reality. Dr. Patel said the infection could take her before the leukemia does.”
“He said she’s responding to treatment.”
“He said she might respond.”
Vanessa stared at the floor.
Marissa wanted to strike both of them. Instead, she moved to Holly’s bedside and checked the oxygen tube with the automatic care she had learned during two years of chemotherapy, transfusions, fevers, and midnight admissions.
Holly’s eyes opened.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
“Dad said we can’t do the new treatment because Grandpa’s money is almost gone.”
Marissa slowly turned.
Derek’s expression changed.
Holly’s late grandfather had left her a medical and education trust worth more than two million dollars. An independent trustee approved every distribution. Derek was not a beneficiary.
Marissa had never discussed the balance with Holly.
“Why were you talking to her about the trust?” she asked.
Derek reached for his coat.
“She asked.”
“No, I didn’t,” Holly whispered.
Vanessa pressed both hands against her stomach as if protecting the baby from the room.
Derek walked toward the door.
“Go home, Marissa. Sleep. You’re hearing everything as an attack because you can’t accept where this is heading.”
Marissa stood between him and the exit.
“How much is left?”
His gaze slipped toward Vanessa.
May you like
That glance told Marissa the affair and the money were not separate betrayals.
They were parts of the same plan.
