Chapter 1 - The Forged Signature
Ryan held the divorce paper beneath the kitchen light as though staring at it long enough might make the signature change.
It didn't.
“Mom,” he said quietly.
Diane kept one hand against the cheek he had slapped.
“You're upset.”
Ryan lifted the page.
“This is your handwriting.”
“That is ridiculous.”
“I've seen you sign birthday cards, checks, school forms, everything for thirty years.”
He pointed at the looping R in my supposed signature.
“You make that exact R.”
Diane's expression finally cracked.
Only for a second.
Then she looked at me.
“She put you up to this.”
I almost laughed.
Instead, another sharp pressure tightened across my stomach.
My hand flew to the counter.
Ryan noticed immediately.
His anger vanished.
“What happened?”
“I'm fine.”
I wasn't.
Another tightening rolled through my abdomen.
Ryan was beside me instantly.
“Were you having pains before I got here?”
Diane scoffed.
“She is being dramatic.”
Ryan turned so fast that his mother actually stepped backward.
“You hit her.”
“She provoked me.”
“She is eight months pregnant.”
“She has been poisoning you against your family since the day you married her.”
I stared at Diane.
Something suddenly bothered me more than the forged signature.
“How did you know Ryan wasn't answering his phone?”
Silence.
Ryan looked between us.
“What?”
I swallowed.
“For days, every call I made went straight to voicemail.”
Ryan pulled out his phone.
“You called me?”
“At least twenty times.”
His face changed.
“I never got them.”
He opened his call history.
Nothing.
No missed calls from me.
No deleted voicemails.
Then he opened my contact information.
His thumb stopped moving.
My number had been blocked.
Ryan slowly raised his eyes toward his mother.
Diane's face went pale.
“You blocked my wife on my phone?”
“I don't touch your phone.”
“You used it yesterday morning when I was loading the rental car.”
“That proves nothing.”
Another contraction tightened through me.
This one hurt enough that I gasped.
Ryan immediately wrapped an arm around my waist.
“We're going to the hospital.”
“I don't need—”
“Yes, you do.”
He grabbed his keys and my coat.
Then he stopped beside Diane.
“Do not follow us.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Ryan.”
“Do not call us.”
He looked at the forged divorce papers.
“And don't destroy anything in this house.”
For the first time, Diane looked frightened.
Ryan saw it too.
He placed the forged document inside his suitcase.
Then he helped me toward the door.
Behind us, Diane suddenly shouted.
“If you walk out with her, you're going to regret what you find out!”
Ryan stopped.
I felt his body stiffen beside mine.
He slowly turned around.
Diane smiled.
May you like
“You think the divorce papers are the worst thing I've kept from you?”
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