Chapter 3 - THE PHONEThat night, Emma watched her mother.
Evelyn sat at the dinner table beside Robert Carter.
Her husband.
Emma's father.
Robert talked about business.
He talked about a new hotel project.
He talked about the future.
Evelyn smiled.
She laughed.
She reached across the table and touched his hand.
Emma stared at her.
How could someone sit beside the man they had betrayed and act normal?
Then Evelyn's phone vibrated.
She glanced at the screen.
Her expression changed.
Only for a second.
But Emma saw it.
The message was from Daniel.
Emma waited until her mother left the room.
Then she followed.
The phone was left on the kitchen counter.
Emma stared at it.
She knew she should not touch it.
She also knew that her family had already crossed a line.
Her hand moved.
The screen was locked.
Emma knew the password.
Her mother's birthday.
She entered it.
The phone opened.
The first message made her stomach twist.
I miss you.
The second was worse.
How long are we going to keep pretending?
Then Emma saw the photographs.
Her mother and Daniel.
At hotels.
At restaurants.
In places Emma recognized.
Places her father had believed Evelyn was visiting alone.
The oldest photograph was dated three years earlier.
Emma sat down.
Three years.
Three years of lies.
Then she saw one final message.
May you like
From Daniel.
We need to tell Robert before he signs the papers
