Chapter 9 - Daniel's Confession

I met Daniel in Maya's conference room.

Not alone.

He didn't know Maya would be behind the glass door in the adjoining office, and I didn't volunteer that information.

Daniel looked thinner than he had a week earlier. He sat across from me. "How are you?"

"Don't."

He nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Tell me why you did it."

He stared at the table. "My mother got in my head."

"That's not an answer."

"She kept saying you'd leave after the baby came."

"Why would I?"

"Because you hated how involved she was. Because you wanted boundaries. Because you talked about moving closer to Rachel."

I laughed once, without humor. "So your solution was to secretly prepare to take my child?"

"Our child."

"Don't correct me right now."

He flinched.

I slid a printed screenshot toward him. The fake message about wishing the baby would disappear.

"Did you make this?"

His face changed.

That was enough.

"Daniel."

"I didn't write all of them."

My skin went cold. "All of them?"

He covered his face. "Mom created some. She said nobody would believe a custody request without stronger proof."

"And you let her?"

"I told her to stop."

"Did you delete them?"

Silence.

"Did you tell the lawyer they were fake?"

Silence.

I leaned back. "You didn't stop her. You just wanted to feel less guilty while she did it."

He looked up with wet eyes. "I was scared."

"So was I. You turned my fear into evidence."

He started crying.

Once, that would have broken me.

Now it only made me tired.

"You said there was something I needed to know about your mother."

Daniel wiped his face.

"She has a nursery."

"What?"

"At her house. Fully set up. Crib, diapers, formula, clothes. She bought a second car seat."

"Why?"

His voice dropped.

"Because the plan was never for me to raise him alone. If I got primary custody, she was going to move in with me—or I was going to move in with her."

I stared at him.

He reached into his coat pocket and placed a key on the table.

"There's a locked cabinet in her home office. She keeps copies of everything there."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Because she went further than I agreed to."

I almost laughed.

"You agreed to enough."

He lowered his eyes.

Then he said, "Emily, she called your hospital yesterday."

My hand froze over the key.

"Why?"

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