Chapter 4 - THE EMAIL VANESSA SENT AS DANIEL
Daniel changed every password before confronting Vanessa.
Then he searched archived mail.
Vanessa had deleted more carefully than he expected.
But not perfectly.
A backup folder contained three messages from an old address Daniel rarely used.
One had been sent to Julia’s attorney.
The sender appeared to be Daniel.
It read:
Julia has had enough chances. Further attempts to disrupt Sophie’s stability will be treated as evidence that she is acting against the child’s best interests. If she continues, I will pursue every available legal remedy, including permanent limitation of parental contact.
Daniel stared at the words.
He had never written them.
Vanessa entered the office.
He turned the monitor toward her.
“You sent this.”
She stopped.
“I was protecting you.”
“You impersonated me.”
“I answered an email.”
“As me.”
“You would have said the same thing.”
“No.”
Her face tightened.
“You don’t remember what Julia did to you.”
“I remember.”
“You came home every night expecting another disaster.”
“I remember.”
“You slept on Sophie’s floor for weeks because you were afraid something would happen.”
“I remember all of it.”
“Then why are you acting like Julia deserves sainthood because she mailed a few birthday cards?”
“I’m not.”
Daniel stood.
“I’m acting like she deserved the process we agreed to.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Process.”
“Yes.”
“Where was process when she left Sophie alone?”
“That is why I got custody.”
“And I raised her afterward.”
Daniel stared.
There it was.
Not legally accurate.
Emotionally revealing.
“You helped raise her.”
“I was there.”
“Yes.”
“Julia wasn’t.”
“She was trying to come back.”
“When it suited her.”
“We don’t know that because you made sure I never heard her.”
Vanessa looked toward the hallway.
“I knew what would happen.”
“What?”
“She’d come back polished and sober and apologetic, and everyone would congratulate her for doing the bare minimum.”
Daniel heard something underneath the cruelty.
Fear.
“What were you afraid of?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“She would walk in and become her mother again.”
“She is her mother.”
Vanessa recoiled as though slapped.
Daniel regretted the bluntness only because it was not the whole truth.
“You’re also important to Sophie.”
“Apparently not important enough.”
“This isn’t a competition.”
“It always is when you’re the woman who comes second.”
Daniel looked at her.
For years Vanessa had been carrying a fear he had never named because he had benefited from her certainty.
She ran the household.
Loved Sophie.
Took over when Daniel traveled.
She was competent in every place where Daniel felt exhausted.
He had treated that competence as permission.
Now he saw the danger.
“How many times did you take Sophie into that basement?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Answer me.”
“Maybe five.”
“What happened?”
“She kept asking why some packages had her name.”
“So?”
“I explained.”
“You told a four-year-old her mother abandoned her because she cried.”
“I was trying to stop the questions.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“That isn’t an explanation.”
May you like
He stepped closer.
“That is punishment.”
