Chapter 9 - Nathan’s Version of the Truth
Leah did not open the door.
“Nathan.”
Her voice shook.
“Step away.”
“Listen to me.”
“You slept with Simone.”
Silence.
“You helped your mother create psychiatric records.”
Silence again.
“You planned to take my son.”
“Our son.”
Leah almost screamed.
Instead, she forced herself to stay calm.
That was what they were counting on.
“What did you sign?”
Nathan breathed heavily outside.
“An affidavit.”
“What affidavit?”
“That you had become increasingly unstable during pregnancy.”
Leah closed her eyes.
“Was it true?”
“No.”
“Then why did you sign it?”
“My mother said it was necessary to protect the trust.”
“Forty-two million dollars?”
Nathan said nothing.
“That’s what this is worth to you?”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“It is exactly that simple.”
Nathan’s voice cracked.
“My father hated my mother.”
“He structured the trust so she could never touch the principal.”
“When the first grandson was born, control transferred to the child’s legal guardian until he turned twenty-five.”
Leah stared at the door.
“And she wanted you to become sole guardian.”
“Yes.”
“By destroying me.”
“She said you would be hospitalized for three days.”
“She said we’d resolve everything later.”
Leah laughed bitterly.
“You believed her?”
“I wanted to.”
“No.”
“You wanted the money.”
Nathan’s silence answered.
Leah shifted Eli against her shoulder.
“What about Simone?”
Nathan took several seconds before speaking.
“It started six months ago.”
Leah felt as if someone had hit her.
While she had painted the nursery.
While she had attended birthing classes.
While Nathan had rubbed her feet at night.
Six months.
“She told me her marriage was over.”
“Was yours?”
“No.”
“But apparently that didn’t matter.”
Nathan’s voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Leah looked at Eli.
“Sorry is what people say when they break a plate.”
“You broke our family.”
“My mother manipulated—”
“Stop blaming your mother for choices you made.”
Nathan went quiet.
Then he said something Leah did not expect.
“She has a discharge order for Eli.”
Leah sat upright.
“What?”
“She convinced administration that you are temporarily unfit to make medical decisions.”
“She listed me as the father.”
“And because I signed the family-care authorization last month—”
“What authorization?”
“The paperwork you signed before the baby shower.”
Leah remembered a stack of insurance documents.
Nathan had placed yellow tabs beside every signature line.
Her stomach dropped.
“You hid guardianship language inside insurance forms.”
“I didn’t know what she was planning then.”
“Liar.”
“Leah, listen.”
“Simone has the messages.”
“She kept everything.”
“If we get them, we can stop my mother.”
Leah almost answered.
Then she heard another sound outside.
A woman’s voice.
Not Doreen.
Not Mae.
Dr. Rusk.
“Nathan.”
May you like
“Step away from the door.”
“We have authorization to sedate your wife.”
