Chapter 4 - The Divorce I Never Filed

Emily was asleep when I entered the hospital room.

She looked thinner than I remembered.

Too thin.

Her hands were pale.

There was a bruise near her wrist.

Sophia climbed carefully onto the bed.

“Mommy.”

Emily opened her eyes.

Then saw me.

Fear crossed her face.

Not relief.

Fear.

“Daniel?”

I sat down.

“I’m here.”

She looked toward the door.

“Did your mother come?”

“No.”

Her shoulders relaxed.

That hurt.

I showed her the divorce papers Victoria gave the detective.

Emily stared at the signature.

“I never signed that.”

I already knew.

But hearing it mattered.

“What did you sign?”

“Nothing.”

She thought.

Then her face changed.

“Insurance forms.”

“When?”

“Three months ago.”

Victoria had brought documents to the basement.

Said Sophia needed to be added to family health coverage.

Emily signed two pages.

The rest must have been attached later.

I asked:

“Why didn’t you call me?”

Emily looked at me for a long time.

“I did.”

My chest tightened.

“No.”

“Every week.”

“I never received them.”

“She took my phone.”

“Who?”

Emily almost laughed.

“Your mother.”

Then she told me everything.

When I left for Singapore, Victoria invited Emily and Sophia to stay at the hotel for security.

A week later, she told Emily the house was being renovated.

Then she claimed my company credit cards had been frozen.

Then she said I wanted distance.

Then she showed Emily messages supposedly from me.

I DON’T WANT TO SPEAK TO HER.

KEEP SOPHIA SAFE.

DON’T LET EMILY MAKE A SCENE.

I felt sick.

“I never wrote those.”

“I know now.”

Emily’s eyes filled.

“But I believed them then.”

Victoria had isolated her.

Blocked her access to money.

Taken her phone.

Told staff Emily was unstable.

When Emily tried to leave, Victoria threatened to accuse her of kidnapping Sophia.

“Why would anyone believe that?”

Emily looked at me.

“Because your mother had a custody petition.”

The room went silent.

“She wanted Sophia?”

“She said your schedule made you unfit.”

I could barely process it.

“She wanted to raise her herself.”

Emily nodded.

Then she reached into the bedside drawer.

A nurse had saved her coat.

Inside the lining was a folded document.

A draft petition.

It described Emily as mentally unstable.

Me as absent.

Victoria as the only suitable guardian.

At the bottom was a medical statement from Dr. Peter Lang.

Our family physician.

I called him immediately.

His office said he had retired.

Six months ago.

Then Detective Ramirez entered.

“We found your wife’s phone.”

“Where?”

“In your mother’s private office.”

Emily closed her eyes.

Ramirez placed the phone on the table.

“There are deleted messages.”

“Can you recover them?”

“We already did.”

One message came from Victoria to someone named H.

KEEP DANIEL OUT OF CHICAGO UNTIL SHE SIGNS.

I looked at the detective.

“Who is H?”

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He answered:

“We think it’s your father.”