Chapter 4 - AMBER’S PERFECT PLAN
Danielle Pierce looked nothing like her sister.
That was my first thought.
Amber was polished.
Always.
Hair perfect.
Makeup perfect.
Clothes chosen carefully enough to look effortless.
Danielle arrived at Maya’s office wearing hospital scrubs beneath an old winter coat, her dark hair twisted into a loose knot.
She looked exhausted.
And scared.
Nathan recognized her immediately.
“Danielle.”
She looked at him.
No warmth.
“I wondered when you’d finally realize you’re an idiot.”
Maya almost smiled.
Nathan didn’t.
Danielle sat.
Then looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I had heard that phrase too many times.
“For what?”
“My sister.”
“You aren’t responsible for her.”
“No.”
Danielle glanced at Nathan.
“But I knew some things.”
Nathan stiffened.
“How much?”
“Enough to know she was obsessed with you.”
I looked toward him.
Nathan looked sick.
Danielle continued.
“Amber has been talking about you for years.”
Nathan frowned.
“We’ve been friends for years.”
“No.”
Danielle shook her head.
“You thought you were friends.”
The sentence landed badly.
“What did she say?” I asked.
Danielle looked at me.
“That you had Nathan’s life.”
I almost laughed.
“My husband?”
“Not just him.”
“She wanted your house.”
“Your marriage.”
“Your social circle.”
“The way people saw you.”
“She used to complain that you didn’t appreciate what you had.”
My skin prickled.
Amber had complimented my house constantly.
My kitchen.
My garden.
Our neighborhood.
Once she jokingly said—
“If you ever disappear, I’m stealing your life.”
We all laughed.
I remembered that.
Now I wished I didn’t.
Danielle continued.
“Last year, she started asking about fertility.”
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“How did she know?”
“Nathan.”
He looked away.
Of course.
Private appointments.
Private disappointment.
Private pain.
Nathan had carried them to another woman.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I ignored him.
Danielle reached into her purse and placed several printed bank statements on the table.
“I found these in my mother’s house.”
Maya picked them up.
“What are they?”
“Amber’s old account.”
“She used Mom’s address until last year.”
The statements showed recurring deposits.
Small at first.
Five hundred.
Eight hundred.
Then larger.
Three thousand.
Five thousand.
Maya pointed.
“Who is NB?”
Nathan leaned closer.
His face changed.
“That’s my personal account.”
I stared.
“You were giving her money?”
He looked stunned.
“No.”
“Those are your initials.”
“No, I mean—I paid for things sometimes, but not these transfers.”
Maya examined the routing information.
“They came from an account ending 8813.”
Nathan went pale.
“That’s not my checking account.”
“What is it?”
He swallowed.
“My business reimbursement account.”
“Could Amber access it?”
“She handled expense reports for a project last year.”
I stared.
“You worked together?”
“For six months.”
He had never told me that.
Another secret.
Danielle said—
“She told me you were paying her.”
Nathan looked furious.
“I wasn’t.”
“She said you were investing in Pierce Consulting.”
“I never agreed to that.”
Maya looked at him.
“Did you ever sign blank reimbursement forms?”
Nathan froze.
Bad answer.
“Mr. Brooks?”
“Sometimes.”
Maya closed her eyes briefly.
I almost laughed.
My husband had apparently spent years confusing convenience with security.
Danielle pulled out another document.
“Amber paid for Nathan’s vasectomy.”
Silence.
Nathan stared.
“What?”
She handed Maya a credit-card statement.
The clinic payment appeared clearly.
$1,850.
Paid by Pierce Consulting.
Nathan looked completely confused.
“She told me the clinic offered a discount through a health partnership.”
Danielle laughed without humor.
“Of course she did.”
I stared at him.
“You let another woman arrange your vasectomy?”
Nathan looked miserable.
“It sounds worse when you say it.”
“It sounds exactly like what happened.”
Danielle continued.
“She picked the doctor too.”
Nathan’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“She searched for clinics.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw her laptop.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Danielle looked at me.
“I confronted her.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was helping a friend make a difficult decision.”
“Did she tell you about the affair?”
“Not then.”
Danielle took a breath.
“I found that out later.”
“How?”
“She asked me to lie.”
The room went quiet.
“About what?”
“The timeline.”
My heart started pounding.
Danielle continued.
“After you announced the pregnancy, Amber called me.”
“She was excited.”
“Excited?”
“Yes.”
“She said it had worked.”
I felt cold from head to toe.
“What had worked?”
Danielle looked toward Nathan.
“The test.”
Nathan’s face went gray.
“She said Rachel got pregnant after the vasectomy.”
“And Nathan finally had proof.”
I stared at him.
Nathan shook his head slowly.
“I didn’t tell her Rachel was pregnant until that morning.”
Danielle looked at him.
“I know.”
Silence.
“How did she know?”
Nobody answered.
Then I understood.
“She was watching me.”
Nathan whispered—
“What?”
I remembered.
The day before I took the pregnancy test, I had gone to a pharmacy.
I purchased two tests.
I used my debit card.
Amber had no access to that.
But she had been in my house.
Had she seen them?
I took the test the next morning.
Nathan had been downstairs.
No one else.
I looked at Nathan.
“Did you text Amber that morning?”
His face answered before his mouth did.
“After you told me.”
“How soon?”
He swallowed.
“Maybe two minutes.”
I laughed.
“Of course.”
But Danielle shook her head.
“She knew the night before.”
Nathan frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Danielle took out her phone.
“I saved the message.”
She showed us.
Timestamp:
10:47 p.m.
Night before my positive test.
Amber:
Tomorrow changes everything.
Danielle had replied:
What are you talking about?
Amber:
Nathan’s finally going to see who Rachel really is.
My hands turned cold.
I remembered my bathroom.
The pregnancy tests had been in the cabinet.
I had placed them there after coming home.
Had Amber been inside our house that evening?
I checked my calendar.
Then remembered.
Nathan had gone to the gym.
I had gone to my mother’s for dinner.
Our house had been empty for nearly three hours.
Amber had a key.
I whispered—
“She found the tests.”
Maya nodded slowly.
“Likely.”
Danielle continued.
“After Nathan left you, she asked me to say she had been staying with me for several nights.”
“Why?”
“To make it look like they didn’t immediately move in together.”
Nathan looked toward her.
“She told me she had nowhere else.”
“She had an apartment.”
“She said the lease ended.”
“It didn’t.”
He closed his eyes.
Every minute, another lie.
Maya asked—
“Why come forward now?”
Danielle looked at me.
“Because Amber called me last night.”
“From where?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she want?”
“Cash.”
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand.”
“Why?”
“She said she needed to leave the state.”
Maya leaned forward.
“Did she say why?”
Danielle nodded.
“She said Nathan had become dangerous.”
Nathan stood.
“That’s a lie.”
Maya immediately said—
“Sit down.”
“I never threatened her.”
“Sit.”
He sat.
Danielle looked uncomfortable.
“I didn’t believe her.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because she sounded happy.”
That silenced everyone.
“She said Nathan had finally become useless.”
Nathan stared.
Danielle continued.
“She said she got what she needed.”
“What?”
“I asked.”
“And?”
“She said enough money to start over.”
The HELOC.
The savings.
Maybe more.
Maya asked—
“Did she say where she was going?”
“No.”
“Did she ask for anything else?”
Danielle hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“She wanted my passport.”
My eyebrows rose.
“Why?”
“She said hers was missing.”
Maya’s expression sharpened.
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Then she got angry.”
Danielle looked toward me.
“She said something else.”
“What?”
“That none of this would matter once Rachel lost the house.”
My heart stopped.
Maya leaned forward.
“Exact words.”
Danielle repeated—
“She said: ‘By the time anyone figures it out, the house will already be gone.’”
Maya stood.
“Excuse me.”
She left immediately.
Nathan looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Ten minutes later, Maya returned.
Her face told me I was not going to like the answer.
“The HELOC is already in default.”
“What?”
“Three payments were missed.”
“But it’s new.”
“Yes.”
“Why would anyone borrow money and immediately default?”
“To create foreclosure pressure.”
My stomach twisted.
Nathan stood.
“Can they take the house?”
Maya looked at him.
“They can try.”
“No.”
He looked genuinely panicked.
“That’s our home.”
I turned toward him.
“Interesting.”
He flinched.
“I didn’t mean—”
“That house mattered when Amber threatened it.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Stop telling me what’s fair.”
Maya raised a hand.
“Both of you.”
We stopped.
She continued.
“The fraud complaint helps.”
“We can seek emergency relief.”
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Someone changed the homeowners insurance beneficiary information last month.”
I stared.
“To who?”
“Pierce Consulting is listed as an additional interested party.”
Nathan whispered—
“What the hell?”
Maya looked toward him.
“That is what I would like to know.”
That afternoon, police obtained a search warrant for Amber’s apartment.
She was gone.
Closets empty.
Computer missing.
But investigators found something she forgot.
A locked storage box.
Inside were photocopies.
My driver’s license.
My Social Security card.
Nathan’s passport.
Our mortgage statement.
Bank records.
Fertility clinic invoices.
Pictures of the inside of our house.
Even photographs of my jewelry.
This had not begun when Nathan accused me of cheating.
Amber had been studying our life for months.
Maybe longer.
Detective Holloway called me that evening.
“Rachel, we found one other thing.”
“What?”
“A notebook.”
I gripped the phone.
“What’s in it?”
“Dates.”
“What dates?”
“Your fertility appointments.”
“Nathan’s vasectomy.”
“Your work schedule.”
“His work schedule.”
Then—
“A projected pregnancy window.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“She appears to have calculated the likelihood that you could already be pregnant before Nathan’s procedure.”
The room spun.
“But if she knew that…”
“Yes.”
Holloway’s voice became careful.
“She may have known a future pregnancy would not prove infidelity.”
“Then why push the vasectomy?”
“We’re still investigating.”
I thought about Amber’s excitement.
It worked.
She had not needed the pregnancy to prove I cheated.
She only needed Nathan to believe it did.
That distinction changed everything.
“She wanted him to leave me.”
“Yes.”
“And she wanted the money.”
“Possibly.”
I looked toward the ultrasound photographs on my kitchen table.
Two tiny shapes.
Two lives that had accidentally exposed an entire conspiracy.
Holloway continued.
“We also recovered a list of passwords.”
My stomach tightened.
“Mine?”
“Yours and Nathan’s.”
“How many?”
“More than forty.”
I sat down.
Then the doorbell rang.
I froze.
“Detective.”
“What?”
“Someone’s at my door.”
“Are you expecting anyone?”
“No.”
“Do not open it.”
I walked toward the window.
A dark car idled outside.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One text.
If you want your money back, stop talking to police.
Another.
And tell Nathan the twins aren’t his.
I stopped breathing.
Then a photograph appeared.
Taken through my living-room window.
Of me.
May you like
Standing there.
Right now.
