Chapter 2: The Message Under the Oak Tree
Part 2 ⬇️
I made it as far as the oak tree at the edge of the garden before Daniel caught up.
"Emma, stop.
You're overreacting."
I turned around slowly.
"Overreacting."
"She's emotional.
You know how she gets."
"She smashed a cake into my face, Daniel.
In front of forty people.
While I'm seven months pregnant."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'll talk to her."
"You had your chance to talk.
You chose silence."
He grabbed my arm.
"Just come back inside.
We can fix this quietly."
I looked down at his hand until he let go.
That's when my phone buzzed.
A message from my attorney, Margaret Hollins.
Three words: *Did it happen?*
I had called Margaret two weeks earlier.
Not about Linda.
About Daniel.
About the "temporary loans" that had never been repaid.
About the business account I'd discovered — one I was never meant to find.
I typed back: *Yes.
Start the process.*
Daniel was still talking.
I put the phone in my purse and looked at him one last time.
"Go back to your mother, Daniel."
"Emma, what does that mean?"
I didn't answer.
Because what happened next wasn't something I could explain in a garden.
---
What Emma found in that business account is the secret Linda never wanted her to know.
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Click the link below to read the full story — the truth is bigger than anyone at that shower could have imagined.
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