Chapter 4 - The Eighteen-Million-Dollar Secret
Ryan stared at the number until the digits seemed to blur together.
$18.7 million.
He looked from the statement to Emma.
“You have eighteen million dollars?”
Emma gave a tired smile.
“No.”
Ryan looked confused.
“The Parker Heritage Trust controls approximately eighteen-point-seven million in assets that were left to me by my grandmother.”
Ryan frowned.
“Parker?”
“My grandmother’s maiden name happened to be Parker too. No relation to your family.”
Ryan looked back at the paperwork.
Emma continued.
“She owned commercial properties around Denver and Boulder. Most of them were sold after her death. The proceeds were placed into a trust.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Emma’s expression changed.
“I planned to.”
“When?”
“When I knew whether our marriage was safe.”
Ryan recoiled.
“Our marriage?”
Emma looked at him for a long moment.
“Ryan, six months ago your mother asked me to sign paperwork she said was related to your family’s estate planning.”
Ryan’s face tightened.
“What paperwork?”
“A marital property agreement.”
“I never asked her to do that.”
“I know.”
That caught him off guard.
Emma explained.
Patricia had presented the papers during Emma’s pregnancy.
She claimed Ryan wanted everything “simplified” before Ethan arrived.
But Emma had refused to sign without an attorney.
Patricia became angry.
Then strangely interested in Emma’s grandmother.
“She kept asking whether Grandma Evelyn had left me anything.”
Ryan stared.
“Why?”
“Because your mother already knew.”
“How?”
Emma looked toward Detective Collins.
“That’s one of the things police are investigating.”
Ryan shook his head.
“You think my mother knew about your inheritance before I did?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“My grandmother used the same wealth management company your father once worked with.”
Ryan’s father, Richard Parker, had died four years earlier.
He had been a financial consultant.
Successful.
Respected.
At least that was what Ryan had always believed.
Emma continued.
“Two months ago, my attorney discovered someone had accessed information connected to my trust using credentials tied to your father’s old firm.”
Ryan’s stomach tightened.
“That’s impossible.”
“Your mother still had access to some of his archived records.”
Ryan sat down.
Detective Collins stepped closer.
“Mrs. Parker, tell him about Saturday.”
Emma’s fingers tightened around Ethan’s blanket.
Ryan looked at her.
“What happened after I left?”
Emma’s eyes became distant.
For several seconds, she seemed to return to the nursery floor.
“I tried calling 911.”
Her voice was quiet.
“My hands wouldn’t work properly.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Emma…”
“Then your mother came in.”
Ryan stared at her.
“Did she see the blood?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know you were sick?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
Emma swallowed.
“She asked me where the trust documents were.”
Ryan’s face went blank.
“No.”
“She thought I had copies in the house.”
“No.”
“She stood over me while I was bleeding.”
Ryan’s voice rose.
“My mother would not do that.”
Emma flinched.
The reaction was slight.
But Melissa saw it.
“So you’re still defending her?” Melissa snapped.
Ryan immediately lowered his voice.
“I’m trying to understand.”
Emma continued.
“I told Patricia to call an ambulance.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
Ryan looked sick.
“She picked up my phone.”
Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
“She saw that I had recorded part of our argument.”
Ryan went still.
“She tried deleting it.”
Detective Collins explained that the recording had automatically backed up to Emma’s cloud storage before Patricia attempted to erase it.
Emma continued.
“Then she asked for my passcode.”
Ryan whispered, “Why?”
“She wanted access to my email.”
“For the trust?”
“And my attorney.”
Emma shifted carefully.
Even the small movement made her wince.
“She said I was destroying your life.”
Ryan stared at her.
“She said once I divorced you, you would lose the house, Ethan, your reputation…”
Emma paused.
“And the opportunity she believed you had to claim part of my inheritance.”
Ryan shook his head.
“I never wanted your money.”
“I believe you.”
Those words surprised him.
Emma looked at him sadly.
“That’s what makes this worse.”
Ryan’s eyes filled.
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you divorcing me?”
Emma’s expression hardened.
“Because you didn’t need eighteen million dollars to abandon me.”
Ryan looked down.
She continued.
“You did it for a birthday trip.”
Nobody spoke.
Emma’s words landed harder than shouting ever could.
“I was begging you for medical help, Ryan.”
“I know.”
“No. You know now.”
Her voice remained quiet.
“That morning, you decided my pain was less important than skiing.”
Ryan covered his face.
Emma looked away.
“When Patricia realized I wouldn’t give her the passcode, she left.”
Ryan’s head snapped up.
“She just left?”
“Yes.”
“You were unconscious?”
“Almost.”
“She didn’t call anyone?”
“No.”
Detective Collins added, “That may have serious legal consequences.”
Ryan stood suddenly.
“I’m going to find her.”
Collins stepped in front of him.
“No.”
“She left my wife to die.”
“And you confronting her could compromise this investigation.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“I did the same thing.”
Nobody corrected him.
Ryan turned toward Emma.
“I left too.”
Emma’s eyes glistened.
“Yes.”
That single word nearly broke him.
Then Ethan stirred.
The newborn opened his tiny mouth and began making soft noises.
Ryan looked toward his son.
“Can I hold him?”
Emma hesitated.
Ryan did not move closer.
“Please.”
Emma looked at him for several long seconds.
Then she shook her head.
“Not today.”
Ryan nodded.
It hurt.
But he accepted it.
“I understand.”
Emma seemed surprised.
Ryan turned to leave.
Before he reached the elevator, Detective Collins called his name.
“Mr. Parker.”
Ryan looked back.
“There’s something else.”
Collins held up Patricia’s security footage.
“We enhanced the recording of your mother leaving the house.”
Ryan frowned.
“And?”
“She wasn’t alone.”
Ryan stepped closer.
Collins showed him one frame.
A black SUV sat near the curb.
A man stood beside it.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Wearing a dark overcoat.
Ryan stared.
His face changed.
Melissa whispered, “Ryan?”
Ryan’s lips parted.
“That can’t be him.”
Emma studied his reaction.
“You know that man?”
Ryan looked at the screen again.
The man had aged.
But Ryan knew the face.
He had seen it at family Christmas parties.
At his father’s office.
At their wedding.
“His name is Victor Lang.”
Detective Collins asked, “Who is he?”
Ryan swallowed.
“My father’s former business partner.”
Emma frowned.
“I thought he moved to Europe.”
“He did.”
“When?”
“After my father died.”
Detective Collins looked closely at Ryan.
“Why would your father’s former partner be outside your house while your mother allegedly left your wife without medical assistance?”
Ryan stared at the image.
“I don’t know.”
His phone suddenly vibrated.
Unknown number.
Ryan answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man’s voice spoke.
“You need to convince Emma to stop talking to police.”
Ryan’s face drained.
“Who is this?”
The voice ignored him.
“If investigators start digging into the Parker accounts, your father’s reputation won’t survive.”
Ryan gripped the phone.
“My father is dead.”
The man laughed softly.
“Exactly.”
Then the caller said something even stranger.
“Ask your mother what happened on December seventeenth, four years ago.”
The call ended.
Ryan stared at the phone.
December seventeenth.
His father had died December eighteenth.
The official cause had been a heart attack.
Ryan slowly looked toward Emma.
May you like
For the first time, he realized her inheritance might not be the biggest secret in the Parker family.
Not even close.
