Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN CARRYING MY HUSBAND'S CHILD
Melanie Harper called me the next morning.
I knew her voice before she introduced herself.
I had heard it through Lucas's car speakers once.
Bright.
Confident.
"Anne?"
"Yes."
"This is Melanie."
I waited.
Silence made people uncomfortable.
Lucas hated it.
Apparently Melanie did too.
"I think we need to talk."
"Do we?"
"He told me you knew."
Interesting.
"Knew what?"
Another pause.
"About us."
"No."
Her breathing changed.
"He said your marriage was over."
"Did he?"
"He said you were separated privately because of your father's estate."
That was so bizarre I almost laughed.
"What does my father's estate have to do with our marriage?"
"He said you stayed legally married for tax reasons."
"Melanie, Lucas slept in my bed four nights ago."
Silence.
"He kissed me goodbye at the airport."
Nothing.
"He told me he loved me."
"Stop."
"I'm not the person you need to tell to stop."
She began crying.
I felt something unexpected.
Not sympathy exactly.
But recognition.
She had been lied to too.
Then I remembered she was pregnant.
"How far along are you?"
"Twenty-three weeks."
Five months.
The affair had been going on at least that long.
"Does your father know?"
Her silence answered.
"Melanie."
"Yes."
"Does Richard Harper know Lucas is married?"
"Lucas said—"
"That's not what I asked."
"Yes."
There it was.
Richard knew.
"Where is Lucas?"
"Zurich."
She believed that too.
"Are you sure?"
"What are you talking about?"
"He's not in Zurich."
"Yes, he is."
"No."
"How would you know?"
"Because I'm his wife."
Cruel.
Necessary.
I told her about Frankfurt.
Geneva.
Helix Meridian.
Her father.
She stopped crying.
"Don't say that name."
"Helix?"
"Anne."
"Why?"
"Where did you hear it?"
Now I knew.
"You know exactly what it is."
She hung up.
Rebecca told me not to call back.
Twenty minutes later, Melanie sent an address.
Palm Springs.
COME ALONE.
Rebecca laughed when she saw it.
"Absolutely not."
"I need to know what she knows."
"You can know it with counsel nearby."
We compromised.
I flew to California the next morning with Claire.
Rebecca coordinated remotely.
Melanie met me at a quiet restaurant attached to a resort.
She looked different from the photographs.
Pregnancy softened her face.
She wore no makeup.
No jewelry except a gold chain.
She looked exhausted.
"I thought you'd be older."
I sat.
"Thank you."
"No. Lucas said—"
"I know what Lucas says."
She looked away.
"I didn't know at first."
"At first?"
"That he was married."
"When did you find out?"
"Three months ago."
"And you stayed."
She flinched.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he said you knew."
"Did that make sense?"
"I wanted it to."
At least she admitted it.
"How did you meet?"
"Through my father."
Of course.
"Helix?"
Her eyes sharpened.
"Lower your voice."
"Why?"
"Because you don't understand what you're dealing with."
"Then explain it."
She stared at me.
"My father founded Helix with two partners twenty years ago."
"What does it do?"
"Whatever rich people pay it to do."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
"Fraud?"
"I don't know."
"Forged documents?"
"I don't know."
"Stealing patents?"
Her face changed.
She knew.
"Lucas told me your father stole technology from Helix."
I laughed.
"My father developed it."
"That's not what I was told."
"Lucas targeted me before we met."
She stared.
"No."
I showed her Dad's letter.
Not everything.
Enough.
Her face drained.
"He said he fell in love with you by accident."
"After approaching me on purpose?"
She looked sick.
I continued.
"Did Lucas tell you he was using my ownership stake as collateral?"
"No."
"Did he tell you he forged my signature?"
"No."
"Did he tell you he intercepted warnings my father left for me?"
"Stop."
"Melanie, you asked me here."
She pressed both hands against the table.
The baby moved.
I saw it beneath her dress.
My anger changed shape.
That child hadn't done anything.
"Why did you contact me?"
She looked up.
"I didn't."
"What?"
"I didn't send the photograph."
"Then who did?"
"I don't know."
"Why did you ask to meet?"
"Because after our call, I confronted my father."
"And?"
"He told me to leave Lucas."
I blinked.
"Richard Harper told you to leave him?"
"Immediately."
"Why?"
"He wouldn't say."
"Did he know about the baby?"
"Yes."
"And approved before?"
"He tolerated it."
That sounded like Richard Harper.
Not a father.
A strategist.
"What changed?"
"I said you knew about Helix."
There.
"Then what?"
"He asked exactly what you knew."
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing."
"Good."
She almost smiled.
Then:
"Lucas called me from Geneva last night."
"Did he admit where he was?"
"No. I recognized the hotel."
"Which hotel?"
She told me.
Claire, sitting three tables away pretending to work, immediately texted it to Rebecca.
Melanie continued.
"Lucas said something strange."
"What?"
"He told me if anything happened, I should go to the condo and open the safe."
"What safe?"
"Bedroom closet."
"What's inside?"
"I don't know."
"Do you have the combination?"
She nodded.
We went to the condo.
Not alone.
Claire came.
Melanie protested.
I didn't care.
The place was exactly what I had imagined.
White walls.
Expensive furniture.
Nursery half assembled.
A framed ultrasound photograph on the kitchen counter.
Lucas's handwriting beneath it.
OUR LITTLE GIRL.
I stared.
A daughter.
He had another daughter coming.
For a second, grief punched through everything else.
I had wanted children.
Lucas always said not yet.
Not until the timing was right.
Apparently timing had been the issue.
Just not with me.
Melanie opened the closet safe.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Documents.
A second phone.
And a folder bearing my name.
ANNE MERCER.
My hands went cold.
Inside was a draft petition for divorce.
Not filed.
It claimed I had abandoned the marriage.
There were psychiatric evaluations.
Fake.
Emails supposedly written by me.
Fake.
Photographs of wine bottles in my recycling bin.
Real, but meaningless.
A narrative had been constructed.
Anne emotionally unstable.
Anne drinking excessively.
Anne refusing contact.
Anne threatening Lucas.
I stared.
"He was going to frame me."
Melanie covered her mouth.
Then Claire pulled out another document.
Life insurance.
Lucas was beneficiary.
$3 million.
Policy renewed four months earlier.
My skin went cold.
"Anne."
Claire's voice changed.
"Don't jump to conclusions."
"I'm trying not to."
There was no evidence Lucas intended physical harm.
Insurance alone proved nothing.
But after everything else, seeing my own life reduced to a number made me nauseous.
Then Melanie picked up the second phone.
It had no passcode.
One message thread dominated the screen.
R.H.
Richard Harper.
The latest message had been sent the morning Lucas left Denver.
R.H.: Once Anne signs the authorization, move everything.
LUCAS: She will.
R.H.: And if she doesn't?
Lucas's reply appeared beneath it.
Then we use the contingency.
Melanie whispered:
"What contingency?"
I kept scrolling.
There was no answer.
But three weeks earlier, Richard had sent:
The Zurich story buys us ninety days. After that, she becomes a liability.
I looked at Claire.
She looked at me.
Then Melanie began crying.
"My father knew."
I said nothing.
"He knew what Lucas was doing to you."
"Yes."
She shook her head.
"No. You don't understand."
"What?"
She looked toward the nursery.
"My father wasn't helping Lucas."
I waited.
May you like
Her voice dropped.
"Lucas was helping my father."
