Chapter 5 - HE WAS WAITING IN MY HOUSE
The police entered my apartment first.
Nathan was sitting on my couch with a drink in his hand like he still lived there.
He had once. That was before I learned he kept a second apartment under Celeste’s name.
When he saw the officers, he stood quickly.
“This is ridiculous.”
“You sent me a photo from inside my home.”
“My home too.”
“Not after the temporary order.”
His jaw tightened.
Rachel stayed beside me while an officer searched him. No weapon. Just his phone and a key he was no longer supposed to have.
Nathan looked at my bruised face and actually flinched.
“Emma, I lost control.”
“You hit me twice.”
“I know.”
“On camera.”
That got his attention.
“You planned that?”
“I planned to see who you were when you thought I couldn’t fight back.”
He laughed bitterly. “You think this is about us?”
“It stopped being about us when you forged my name.”
“I didn’t forge it.”
Rachel stepped forward. “Then who did?”
Nathan’s eyes went toward the officers, then back to me.
“Celeste brought me the papers. Charles said they were legal.”
“You transferred my shares.”
“I was supposed to hold them for forty-eight hours.”
“For who?”
He swallowed.
“If I tell you, I’m dead.”
“Nathan, my father may be alive.”
His face changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
I felt cold.
“You knew.”
He looked away.
“How long?”
“Emma—”
“How long?”
“Since before we got married.”
The room tilted.
Rachel whispered, “Jesus.”
Nathan finally looked at me.
“Your father didn’t disappear to protect himself.”
“Then why?”
“Because someone threatened to kill you if he came back.”
Before I could ask who, a shot cracked through the living-room window.
May you like
Nathan dropped.
Blood spread across his shirt.
