Chapter 6 - The Second Letter
That night Sophie asked a question Emily had feared.
“Are you and Daddy getting divorced?”
Emily sat on the edge of her bed.
“I don’t know exactly what will happen yet.”
“That means yes.”
Emily did not lie.
“It probably does.”
Sophie stared at the blanket.
“Because I came home?”
Emily’s heart broke.
“No.”
“But if I didn’t see them—”
“Sophie.”
Emily took both her hands.
“Your father made choices before you opened that door. You didn’t create them by seeing them.”
“Daddy said he made a mistake.”
“He made many.”
“Do you still love him?”
Emily could not answer quickly enough.
Sophie noticed.
Children always noticed the silence adults hoped to hide.
“I loved who I thought he was,” Emily finally said.
The next morning, Maya filed for a temporary order of protection in Westchester County Family Court based on the incident with Sophie.
Emily did not ask for Ryan to lose all contact permanently.
She requested that contact be supervised until the court evaluated what had happened.
Ryan’s attorney opposed it.
At the brief hearing, Ryan admitted striking Sophie but described it as “one isolated reactive incident during an emotionally chaotic confrontation.”
The judge was unimpressed.
“You are an adult. She is eight.”
Temporary supervised visits were ordered.
Ryan looked at Emily as if she had stabbed him.
Outside court he whispered, “You’re taking my daughter.”
Emily answered, “You frightened her.”
That afternoon Leonard brought another letter.
Thomas had written it two weeks after the first.
Ryan may eventually discover the Westbridge repurchase clause. If he does, tell Emily the truth: my concern is not Ryan owning Westbridge. My concern is what he becomes when he believes ownership proves his worth.
Emily folded the page.
“Did my father intend to take Westbridge back?”
“No,” Leonard said.
“Ryan says he did.”
“Thomas considered exercising the clause only if Bennett money was used to develop the property.”
“Which Ryan did.”
“Yes.”
“So Ryan created the exact condition he feared.”
Leonard nodded.
Emily laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Maya entered carrying financial statements.
Naomi had traced $1.14 million from Bennett Home Group through Vale Meridian into Westbridge-related expenses.
Enough to make the repurchase clause relevant.
But another $720,000 had gone somewhere else.
A bank account in Delaware owned by Larkspur Media Holdings.
“Who owns Larkspur?” Emily asked.
“We’re still digging.”
They received the answer from an unexpected source.
Jessica called.
Maya put her on speaker.
“I want to negotiate.”
Emily nearly laughed.
“You were kissing my husband four days ago.”
“And now I’m calling your lawyer.”
“What changed?”
“Ryan lied to me.”
“About which part?”
Jessica ignored that.
“I have documents you need.”
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
Maya intervened.
“We cannot promise criminal immunity.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you asking for?”
Jessica hesitated.
“I want Emily to agree not to sue me personally for the affair.”
Emily stared at the phone.
Maya almost smiled.
“New York does not recognize a civil cause of action simply because you had an affair with someone’s spouse.”
Jessica was silent.
Clearly she had wanted something else.
Maya said, “Try again.”
Jessica exhaled.
“I want indemnification relating to the Northstar opinion.”
“No.”
“I relied on Ryan’s representations.”
“You also benefited from payments routed through your company.”
Jessica’s voice sharpened.
“Not all of that money was mine.”
Emily leaned toward the phone.
“Who owns Larkspur?”
Silence.
Jessica whispered, “How do you know that name?”
Emily’s pulse quickened.
“Answer me.”
Jessica hung up.
Maya stared at the phone.
“Well. That confirmed something.”
Within hours, they found Larkspur’s beneficial ownership through documents Naomi had preserved.
The controlling member was not Ryan.
It was Jessica.
Emily sat back.
“So she took seven hundred thousand dollars?”
“Maybe.”
Naomi shook her head.
“Look at the transfers out.”
Money entered Larkspur.
Then left within days.
Two hundred thousand dollars went to a brokerage account.
Another $180,000 went toward the down payment on a condominium in Manhattan.
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“Whose condo?”
Maya checked the property database.
The owner was Ryan Carter.
Purchased eight months earlier.
Emily felt physically ill.
He had bought a home she did not know existed.
With money siphoned from her company.
Through his mistress’s shell company.
“What else?” she asked.
Naomi hesitated.
“There’s a second name on the mortgage application.”
Jessica Vale.
Emily closed her eyes.
They had not only been sleeping together.
They had been building another life.
Then Maya’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Emily stood.
Maya covered the receiver.
“Ryan filed for divorce.”
Emily swallowed.
That was not surprising.
Then Maya continued.
“He’s asking the court for exclusive occupancy of the marital home.”
Emily stared.
“The house he just left?”
“And temporary joint legal custody.”
Emily’s hands went cold.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“He alleges you’re using Sophie to punish him for the affair.”
Emily stood completely still.
May you like
Maya’s voice lowered.
“And he attached a recording of you slapping him.”
