Chapter 5 - Not a Problem Anymore
My entire body went cold.
Daniel lunged for Chloe’s phone.
Robert caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
Daniel jerked free.
“That recording is edited.”
Chloe shook her head.
“It isn’t.”
She looked at me.
“I recorded him three weeks ago.”
I could barely hear her over Lily’s crying.
My mother came closer.
“Give her to me.”
I handed Lily over carefully.
Then I faced Chloe.
“Play the rest.”
Daniel stepped between us.
“No.”
I had never heard fear in his voice like that.
Not even when his father discovered the corporate transfers.
Chloe’s thumb hovered over the screen.
Daniel stared at her.
“What did I tell you?”
Her expression changed.
Something painful passed across her face.
“You told me a lot of things.”
She pressed play.
Daniel’s voice returned.
“After Lily’s baptism, Jennifer won’t be a problem anymore.”
Then Chloe’s recorded voice.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel laughed softly.
“It means I have a strategy.”
“For divorce?”
A pause.
“Something cleaner.”
The recording ended.
The room erupted.
Patricia stood.
“What does cleaner mean?”
Daniel turned toward me.
“It means mediation.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“That’s not what you told me later.”
My attorney stepped closer.
“There’s another recording?”
Chloe nodded.
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Robert heard him.
“So help me God, Daniel, if you threatened Jennifer—”
“I never threatened anyone.”
Chloe hugged her arms around herself.
“He didn’t threaten her.”
She swallowed.
“He planned to make her leave him.”
I stared at her.
“How?”
Chloe glanced at Daniel.
He shook his head.
She continued anyway.
“He said Jennifer was exhausted after giving birth.”
My skin prickled.
“He said people believe things about new mothers if you frame them correctly.”
David became very still.
“What things?”
Chloe looked at me.
“He said he was documenting your mood swings.”
For a moment, I could not speak.
Then I remembered.
Every time I cried from exhaustion.
Every disagreement.
Every night Lily screamed at two in the morning.
Daniel would suddenly become calm.
Almost unnaturally calm.
He would ask strange questions.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Do you think you’re overwhelmed?”
“Should I be worried about you being alone with Lily?”
I had thought he was concerned.
Now I understood.
He had been creating a record.
David asked, “Was he recording her?”
Chloe nodded.
“He said he had videos.”
My stomach dropped.
Daniel immediately said, “That’s legal in our home.”
David looked at him sharply.
“You might want to stop talking.”
Daniel ignored him.
“I was worried about my daughter.”
“My daughter,” I repeated.
He corrected himself.
“Our daughter.”
But the damage was already done.
Chloe looked down.
“There’s something else.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Chloe continued.
“He told me that once Jennifer looked unstable enough, he could ask for temporary custody.”
Patricia made a horrified sound.
I could barely breathe.
Then Chloe said the part Daniel had apparently never expected her to reveal.
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“He said after he had Lily, Jennifer would pay anything to get her back.”
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