“We are almost there, my love,” he said quietly. “I just need that clueless woman to sign the papers, and she will be out of my life with nothing.”
My body went completely still as the words sank in.
I did not move or step inside, and I stayed hidden beside the door with Mason in my arms.
The woman spoke again, and I recognized her voice instantly as Lauren Bishop, a woman who had visited our home and smiled at me like a friend.
“What if she figures it out,” Lauren asked, her tone uncertain.
Ethan laughed in a way that felt cold and unfamiliar.
“Rachel understands nothing,” he replied. “I will tell her the company is collapsing and buried in debt, and if she loves me she will sign the divorce papers to protect our child.”
I felt something break inside me in that moment, sharp and final.
Then he said the worst thing I could have imagined.
“And if I want to take the kid later, I will,” he added casually. “She cannot support him on her own anyway.”
Mason shifted slightly in my arms, and I covered his mouth gently to keep him quiet while my entire body trembled.