Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO SAID SHE DISAPPEARED
Emma did not return home after the hospital.
A victim advocate helped her obtain an emergency protective order.
Her cousin Rachel drove down from New Haven and brought clothes, diapers, a portable bassinet, and the kind of practical anger Emma was too exhausted to produce herself.
“You’re staying with me.”
Emma started to object.
Rachel stopped her.
“You have a newborn and stitches that aren’t even healed. This isn’t the week to prove independence.”
Emma stayed.
That decision probably saved her from making several bad ones.
The first came the next morning.
Lucas emailed:
You need to come home so we can resolve this before you embarrass both of us.
Emma almost responded.
Rachel took the phone away.
“Attorney first.”
Emma hated that Rachel was right.
Attorney Caroline Webb met with her by video that afternoon.
The first problem was domestic.
The second was financial.
The third connected them.
Lucas had withdrawn nearly all available cash from two accounts connected to Sterling Pines Events.
He also transferred $42,000 from an investment account Emma had opened before their marriage.
That account was solely titled in her name.
“How did he access it?” Caroline asked.
Emma stared at the statement.
“I don’t know.”
Lucas knew the password because Emma had once asked him to download a tax form while she was pregnant.
She had never revoked access.
That did not make the money his.
But it made the investigation less simple than Emma wanted.
The bank froze remaining electronic access while reviewing disputed transfers.
Sterling Pines’ payroll account still had enough to cover staff for the month.
Barely.
Emma immediately contacted the venue’s general manager, Paula Grant.
Paula sounded confused.
“Lucas said you were taking indefinite maternity leave.”
“I was.”
“He said you might not come back.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“What else?”
“He said you authorized him to restructure ownership.”
Emma sat straighter.
“I authorized nothing.”
Paula went quiet.
Then:
“Emma, Vanessa has been here.”
Emma already knew Vanessa Price.
Thirty-two.
Blonde.
A wedding stylist and luxury event consultant Sterling Pines had hired repeatedly.
Beautiful, competent, aggressive about details.
Lucas once complained she charged too much.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“For work?”
Paula hesitated.
“She was measuring the west ballroom.”
“For what?”
“She said Lucas wants changes before their March wedding.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“Whose wedding?”
Silence.
Paula finally whispered:
“Oh, God.”
It had been thirty-six hours since the blizzard.
Lucas was already telling staff he was marrying Vanessa in six weeks.
That seemed impossible.
Emma was still legally married to him.
Caroline confirmed it immediately.
“He cannot legally marry somebody else while your marriage exists.”
So why schedule a wedding?
The answer came from Paula.
Vanessa had told staff the ceremony would be “private and symbolic” because final legal paperwork was still processing.
Lucas had apparently told her he and Emma had been separated for months and that a divorce judgment was expected any day.
None of that was true.
Emma looked at Grace sleeping in Rachel’s guest room.
May you like
Lucas had not invented his new life after throwing Emma into the snow.
He had prepared it before.
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