After the baby comes, G will be too exhausted to watch operations closely.
She trusts me completely.
Her father made the trust complicated, but nothing is impossible with the right signatures.
Once I have proxy control, the board will fall in line.
The lake house should be ours by summer.
Victoria had replied.
What if she says no?
Julian answered.
She won’t.
She hates conflict.
Another message.
And if she does?
His answer made my blood run cold.
Then we document emotional instability.
Postpartum depression is common.
I read that line three times.
Caroline stood behind me.
Her hand covered her mouth.
Sarah watched silently.
There was more.
Victoria asked.
Would you really use the baby?
Julian replied.
I’ll use whatever works.
I stopped reading.
“Enough.”
Sarah took the tablet.
I looked at Hazel.
She was sleeping beside me.
Tiny fist near her cheek.
He had planned to use our daughter against me before she was born.
I thought back over my pregnancy.
Julian insisting he attend every medical appointment.
Julian asking whether I had anxiety.
Julian suggesting I seemed overwhelmed.
Julian telling friends I was “more emotional than usual.”
At the time, it sounded like ordinary concern.
Now it looked like preparation.
He had been building a narrative.
Pregnant wife.
Emotional.
Overworked.
Unstable.
Then childbirth.
Then medical complications.
Then control.
I looked at Sarah.
“I want everything.”
She understood immediately.
“The divorce?”
