Chapter 2 - EMILY HART
The woman in the photograph was Emily Hart. Seven years earlier, she worked nights at a motel Brandon’s family owned. She had been pregnant when my engagement collapsed. The letter Oliver copied was addressed to James Whitmore. Mr. Whitmore, Brandon Hayes says your company will ruin him if I talk. I don’t care about his company. I care about my daughter. Then: Vanessa told me Claire Bennett must never know what happened. My hands shook. Emily continued: They want me to sign papers saying Brandon is not the father. Brandon sat down hard. Then Vanessa said, “Emily left because she wanted money.” Caleb asked, “Did you pay her?” Silence. Vanessa’s silence answered. Then Brandon looked at her. “You told me she lost the baby.” Vanessa started crying. There. The first real break. She had told Brandon that Emily miscarried. He believed her. Why? Because believing it solved everything. Then Oliver showed us the second page. James had written: THE CHILD IS ALIVE. The hospital listed beneath it had an archived public birth index entry from seven years ago. Mother: Emily Hart. Child: Sophie Hart.
No father listed. No death record. Brandon stared at the page like it could breathe. “My daughter?” “Maybe,” Caleb said. “Not until DNA.” Good. Then we learned James Whitmore had bought the motel two months after the photograph was taken through a holding company. Brandon accused James of blackmail. Caleb found an old email from his father instead: If Hayes coerced this woman into surrendering parental rights, preserve the evidence before closing. James had been investigating Brandon’s company. Then another line: Vanessa Cole is more involved than Hayes understands. Vanessa went still. Caleb asked, “What did my father know?” She whispered, “Too much.” Then she admitted Brandon had not been the only secret affair. She had been sleeping with him too. So while I believed I was planning a wedding, my fiancé had slept with Emily and Vanessa. Then Emily became pregnant. Brandon said he had intended to tell me. Vanessa stopped him. Not only because she wanted Brandon. Because her father, Thomas Cole, was a deputy city attorney who had become involved in cleaning up financial problems tied to the motel.
Then Caleb found an affidavit. Emily Hart: Brandon Hayes is not the biological father. Notarized by a city employee. Vanessa said, “That proves it.” Then James’s note appeared beneath: EMILY REFUSED FIRST AFFIDAVIT. FIND ORIGINAL. The original had vanished. Until Caleb’s mother Margaret called. “I have it.” The room went quiet. Margaret had been hiding the original affidavit for seven years. And she told us to come without Brandon.
