Chapter 3 - WHAT ABOUT THIS?
Ryan smirked.
Madison wrapped herself around his arm.
Diamonds flashed at her ears and wrist.
“No wonder you upgraded.”
Ryan laughed.
Emily stared at him.
Something inside her finally became quiet.
She lowered the firewood.
Madison stepped closer.
“Look at you.”
Emily said nothing.
“Poor, pregnant, and alone.”
Madison looked down at Emily’s belly.
“How pathetic.”
Emily’s expression changed.
Ryan noticed first.
“Emily.”
She reached beneath her shawl.
Madison’s smile faltered.
Emily removed the object wrapped in white cloth.
Ryan stopped laughing.
“What is that?”
Emily held it firmly.
“Cheating can be forgiven…”
Her fingers closed around the edge of the cloth.
“…but what about this?”
She pulled it away.
An old portable cassette recorder.
Ryan stared.
Madison frowned.
Then Emily opened the battery compartment.
A modern digital memory card had been taped inside.
Ryan’s face went white.
“No.”
Emily looked at him.
“You recognize it?”
Madison turned.
“Ryan?”
He said nothing.
Emily pressed PLAY on her phone.
Arthur had already transferred the recording.
Ryan’s voice came through the speaker.
“If Emily refuses, we use the medical route.”
Then Madison:
“She’s pregnant. Nobody will question anxiety, depression, instability.”
Ryan:
“And the signature?”
Madison:
“Already handled.”
Ryan:
“If she finds out?”
Madison laughed on the recording.
“By the time she finds out, the land won’t belong to her.”
The road became silent.
Emily stopped playback.
Madison removed her sunglasses.
“You recorded us illegally.”
Emily almost smiled.
“That’s your first concern?”
“It should be yours.”
Madison stepped closer.
“If that recording was made without consent in a protected private conversation, your little dramatic reveal may be worthless in court.”
Emily looked at Ryan.
He was still pale.
Madison continued.
“And before you celebrate, you should ask whether that recorder even belonged to you.”
“It was in my grandmother’s house.”
“That doesn’t establish ownership.”
Ryan finally spoke.
“Madison, stop.”
She turned.
“No. You stop.”
Then she looked back at Emily.
“You think you caught us because you have a recording. What you actually have is a legal problem, a disputed inheritance, and a baby due in a month.”
Emily held her gaze.
“You forgot one thing.”
“What?”
“I made copies.”
Madison’s face changed.
Emily saw fear.
Real fear.
Ryan stepped toward her.
“Emily, listen to me.”
“No.”
“There are things you don’t understand.”
“You forged my name.”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
“You planned to call me mentally unstable.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“That wasn’t my plan.”
Madison looked at him sharply.
Emily noticed.
Interesting.
“Whose plan was it?”
Ryan said nothing.
Emily stepped closer.
“Whose plan, Ryan?”
His eyes moved toward Madison.
Madison smiled.
“Careful.”
It was not directed at Emily.
It was directed at Ryan.
Emily understood.
Ryan was afraid of her too.
Then Madison said something Emily did not expect.
“Ask your husband why he married you.”
Emily stared.
Ryan whispered, “Don’t.”
Madison smiled.
“Go ahead, Ryan.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
May you like
Madison finished:
“Tell her what you knew about Miller’s Ridge before your first date.”
