Chapter 3 - THE CONTRACT
The ride to the hospital lasted seventeen minutes.
Raina spent every one of them staring at the ceiling.
The paramedic kept talking.
“Any bleeding?”
“No.”
“Fluid?”
“No.”
“Pain level?”
“Six.”
“Baby moving?”
“Yes.”
She answered automatically.
But her mind remained at the mansion.
With Damon.
With Lacey.
With that robe.
With the paperwork her father had handed him.
Orson rode beside her.
He hadn't touched his phone once.
For a man who routinely handled hundred-million-dollar negotiations from moving cars, that told Raina everything.
He was scared.
“Dad.”
He leaned closer.
“I'm here.”
“I should've told you.”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt.
Orson's face softened.
“But we'll talk about that later.”
“I thought I could fix it.”
“I know.”
“I didn't want you to hate him because I failed.”
Orson frowned.
“You think your marriage failing would disappoint me?”
Raina looked away.
Her father sighed.
“Raina, your mother stayed with a bad man for seven years because she thought leaving meant failure.”
Raina looked back.
Orson rarely spoke about his first marriage.
Almost never.
“She never told me that.”
“She was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“Of choosing him.”
Raina swallowed.
Orson took her hand.
“Choosing the wrong person isn't the failure.”
He squeezed her fingers.
“Staying because you're afraid people will say ‘I told you so’ is how bad years become bad decades.”
Raina closed her eyes.
At the hospital, doctors monitored the baby.
No early labor.
No placental issue.
Stress-induced contractions.
Rest.
Observation.
No unnecessary physical strain.
Raina almost laughed when the doctor said that.
Her entire life had become unnecessary physical strain.
Two hours later, Orson sat beside her hospital bed.
His attorney, Elaine Harper, stood near the window.
Elaine was sixty-two, terrifying, and wore glasses that made everyone feel underprepared.
She placed a leather folder on Raina's lap.
“You need to understand what's about to happen.”
Raina looked at the folder.
“Divorce?”
“Eventually.”
Elaine opened it.
“First, damage control.”
Orson crossed his arms.
“Damon thinks this is about the house.”
Elaine smiled slightly.
“He has no idea.”
Raina frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Elaine turned several pages.
“Your marriage agreement.”
“The prenup?”
“Yes.”
Raina's stomach tightened.
Damon had complained about that prenup for years.
It was “humiliating.”
“Distrustful.”
“Proof your father never accepted me.”
At least once a month, he reminded her.
Elaine tapped one paragraph.
“Your father insisted on a fidelity clause.”
Raina nodded.
“I remember.”
“Do you remember the financial consequence?”
“No.”
“You were twenty-seven and in love.”
Elaine gave Orson a look.
“Your father was the only one reading carefully.”
Orson didn't apologize.
Elaine continued.
“If either spouse has an affair, that spouse waives claims to marital appreciation tied to Mercer family assets.”
Raina blinked.
“So Damon gets nothing?”
“From Mercer assets.”
“What about our shared accounts?”
“That's where things become interesting.”
Elaine pulled out another document.
“Damon withdrew eight hundred and forty thousand dollars over the last seven months.”
Raina stared at her.
“What?”
“From your joint investment account.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“We don't know yet.”
Orson's jaw tightened.
Raina's hands went cold.
“I didn't approve that.”
“We suspected you didn't.”
Elaine turned to another page.
“And there's more.”
Of course there was.
There was always more.
“Three weeks ago, Damon submitted documents to Mercer Capital requesting authority to vote proxy shares supposedly transferred to him by you.”
Raina sat upright.
“What?”
“Lie down,” Orson said.
She ignored him.
“I never transferred shares.”
Elaine's face remained calm.
“We know.”
Raina stared at the document.
Her signature was at the bottom.
It looked real.
Almost perfect.
But she had not signed it.
“That's forged.”
“Yes.”
“Dad…”
Orson said nothing.
The anger in his face scared her.
Elaine lowered her voice.
“We also discovered that Lacey Vaughn was listed as a consultant on a company that received two of the transfers Damon made from your account.”
Raina felt sick.
“How much?”
“Four hundred thousand.”
The room became very quiet.
Then Raina's phone buzzed.
Orson had brought it from the house.
Unknown number.
A text message appeared.
DON'T TRUST YOUR FATHER.
Raina stared at it.
A second message arrived.
DAMON ISN'T THE ONLY PERSON LYING TO YOU.
Then a photo loaded.
It showed Orson.
Standing outside a downtown hotel.
Talking to Lacey.
The timestamp was six months earlier.
Raina slowly looked at her father.
“Dad…”
Orson's face changed.
And for the first time that day—
May you like
he looked guilty.
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