Chapter 7 - The Baby Who Was GoneDaniel confronted Vanessa that night.
Not about the money.
About the baby.
He placed the security photograph on the table.
Richard carrying the black case.
Vanessa stopped breathing for a moment.
"What was in it?"
She didn't answer.
"Was it the prosthetic?"
Tears filled her eyes.
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
Until that moment, some part of him had still believed there would be another explanation.
"Vanessa."
She sat slowly.
"Yes."
Daniel looked away.
The room tilted.
"How long?"
She covered her face.
"Daniel—"
"How long have you been pretending to be pregnant?"
"Four months."
He stared at her.
"Four?"
She began crying.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
"What wasn't?"
"The miscarriage."
Daniel froze.
Vanessa's voice broke.
"I was pregnant."
He said nothing.
"I wasn't lying at first."
She told him.
At eleven weeks, while Daniel was in Chicago negotiating a hotel acquisition, Vanessa had started bleeding.
She went to a private clinic.
The pregnancy had ended.
She never called him.
"Why?"
"I couldn't."
"You couldn't tell your husband our child died?"
"You were already disappearing from me."
"I was working."
"You were sleeping in your office. Traveling. Talking about the company every minute."
Daniel stood abruptly.
"Don't make this my fault."
"I'm not."
"Then why?"
Vanessa looked at him through tears.
"Because the moment everyone knew I was pregnant, everything changed."
He waited.
"Your mother stopped treating me like an outsider. You came home. You touched me again. The board stopped fighting over succession. People finally looked at me like I belonged here."
"And after the miscarriage?"
"I had nothing."
"So you bought a fake stomach?"
She flinched.
"I waited two weeks."
"As though that makes it better?"
"I kept thinking I'd tell you."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"Instead you let me talk to a child who didn't exist."
She broke.
"I know."
Daniel turned away.
Images struck him.
The nursery.
The tiny clothes.
The ultrasound picture Vanessa had framed.
He turned back.
"Was the ultrasound real?"
"From before."
"The heartbeat recording?"
"Real."
"The later images?"
Vanessa's silence answered.
Daniel closed his eyes.
"How could you do this?"
"I was afraid."
"Of losing me?"
"Of losing everything."
The words landed differently.
Daniel opened his eyes.
"Everything?"
Vanessa realized her mistake.
He walked toward the desk.
"What does Richard have to do with this?"
She stood.
"Nothing."
"Don't lie again."
"He helped me."
"With the prosthetic?"
"Yes."
"Why would the CFO of my company help my wife fake a pregnancy?"
Vanessa looked toward the door.
Daniel stepped between her and it.
"Why?"
"Because he knew."
"Knew what?"
She shook her head.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"I already found the vendor account."
Her face changed.
That was the moment he knew the pregnancy wasn't the largest lie.
Not even close.
"Vanessa."
She whispered, "I needed money."
"For what?"
She looked at him.
"To keep Richard quiet."
Daniel stared.
"Quiet about the miscarriage?"
"No."
"Then about what?"
Vanessa's tears stopped.
May you like
When she answered, her voice was almost inaudible.
"About what I'd already done before I lost the baby."
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