Chapter 4 - THE PREGNANCY GRANT WANTED EVERYONE TO ASSUME
Audrey did not answer when Grant called back.
She called an attorney instead.
Maya Collins.
Divorce specialist.
No connection to Whitaker counsel.
Maya arrived at the mansion before midnight.
She saw the walls.
The damaged photographs.
The knife on the kitchen counter.
Then looked at Audrey.
“Did you threaten anyone?”
“No.”
“Did anyone see you do this?”
“No.”
“Good. Put the knife away.”
Audrey did.
Maya reviewed the videos.
Then paused on Brooke’s stomach.
“How pregnant?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you know whether Grant is the father?”
Audrey laughed.
“He’s holding her belly.”
“That’s not DNA.”
Audrey stared.
The distinction irritated her.
Then realized why it mattered.
Do not assume what can be proven.
Maya asked:
“Do you want to leave tonight?”
“No.”
“Do you feel safe?”
Audrey thought.
Grant had never hit her.
He controlled narratives, not fists.
“Yes.”
“Then change passwords. Copy everything. Do not destroy more property.”
Audrey nodded.
Then Patricia arrived.
Alone.
Audrey almost refused entry.
Maya stayed.
Good.
Patricia entered the photo-covered foyer and stopped.
For the first time, she looked ashamed.
“I knew he was close to her.”
Audrey’s face went still.
“How close?”
“I suspected an affair.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I told him to end it.”
Audrey laughed.
“How maternal.”
Patricia took the insult.
Then:
“There is something you need to know about the video.”
Audrey stared.
Patricia explained the environmental issue.
Not every detail.
Enough.
Audrey looked at Maya.
“Can they use this to say I’m blackmailing them?”
“Only if you blackmail them.”
Good.
Then Patricia said:
“Brooke may have recorded material she had no right to record.”
Audrey answered:
“Brooke slept with my husband in my guesthouse. Rights seem flexible around here.”
Patricia flinched.
Then Audrey asked:
“Is the baby Grant’s?”
Patricia looked away.
Interesting.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Why do you look like that?”
Patricia sat.
Because Grant had undergone a vasectomy reversal three years earlier.
Audrey knew.
They had once discussed children.
The reversal had poor results.
They stopped trying after Audrey suffered a miscarriage.
That grief had nearly broken them.
Grant told Audrey he accepted they might never have children.
Then Brooke became pregnant.
Patricia knew the timing.
But Grant had told her something strange:
“Don’t congratulate me yet.”
Audrey stared.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Maya’s phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
Public court filing alert.
Brooke Larkin had filed a petition that afternoon seeking formal acknowledgment of paternity and support from Grant Whitaker.
Audrey laughed once.
There it was.
Then Maya kept reading.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“The petition was withdrawn two hours later.”
“Why?”
“No reason listed.”
Patricia whispered:
“Grant.”
Audrey looked toward the door.
He was not there.
May you like
Good.
She was no longer interested in confronting him before she knew why he was terrified of a paternity case.
