Chapter 7: What Olivia Did When She Found Out
She called me first.
I was in the school pickup line when my phone rang — Olivia's name on the screen, which meant she had gotten my number from Sebastian's phone.
I let it ring.
She called again immediately.
I let that one ring too.
The third time, I answered.
You have no idea what you're doing, she said.
Her voice was controlled but only just.
Hello, Olivia.
Whatever Sebastian told you, whatever you think you have — it's not what it looks like.
I was protecting him.
I was protecting the family.
From me, I said.
You were protecting him from me.
From a woman who trapped him, she said.
You got pregnant deliberately.
Everyone knew it.
His mother knew it.
I knew it.
The car ahead of me moved forward.
I followed it.
You deleted my voicemails, I said.
You intercepted my letters.
You stood in a hospital waiting room and told my husband that his children were de@d.
And you did it while you could hear them crying two floors above you.
Silence.
That recording proves nothing, she said.
A voice on a phone.
You can't even confirm it's me.
Margaret Holt can, I said.
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Margaret, she said slowly.
She has a photograph, I said.
Timestamped.
Taken from across the waiting room.
You're on your phone.
The timestamp matches the recording exactly.
The line was very quiet.
What do you want?
she said finally.
Money?
Is that what this is?
I watched Sophie climb down from the school steps, backpack bouncing, looking for our car.
I want you to understand something, I said.
This was never about money.
I built a company.
I raised three children.
I paid every bill myself for five years.
I don't need anything from you.
Then what—
I want the truth on record, I said.
Formally.
Legally.
I want a judge to read what you did.
That's what I want.
She laughed.
It was a short, hard sound.
You think a judge is going to care about a five-year-old recording?
You think Sebastian is going to let this go to court?
He'll settle.
He always settles.
His lawyers will make sure of it.
Sophie knocked on the car window.
I unlocked the door.
Maybe, I said.
But Daniel withdrew the custody petition an hour ago.
And Carol Reyes filed the fraud complaint twenty minutes after that.
So whatever you and Sebastian work out — the complaint is already moving.
The line went dead.
Sophie climbed in and buckled her seatbelt.
Mommy, she said.
You look serious.
I'm fine, sweetheart, I said.
Was it a bad phone call?
I pulled out of the school line and onto the street.
It was a necessary one, I said.
She considered this with the gravity that only five-year-olds can bring to adult problems.
Ethan says the man from the restaurant is going to try to be our dad, she said.
Is that true?
I kept my eyes on the road.
Would that bother you?
She was quiet for a moment.
I don't know him, she said.
He made a funny face.
But I don't know if he's nice.
That's a very smart way to think about it, I said.
She nodded seriously.
Lucas thinks he's probably okay because he has good shoes.
I almost laughed.
That's Lucas's system, I said.
She leaned her head against the window.
What's your system?
she asked.
I thought about the lobby.
Sebastian's hands on the table.
The way he hadn't answered Olivia's call.
I watch what people do, I said.
Not what they say.
Sophie seemed to accept this.
We drove the rest of the way home in comfortable silence.
My phone buzzed on the seat beside me.
Sebastian.
*Olivia just called me.
She's threatening to go to the press herself with her own version of events.
I think she's panicking.
What do you want me to do?*
I read the message at a red light.
Then I typed back: *Nothing yet.
Let her panic.
Panicking people make mistakes.*
May you like
I set the phone down.
The light turned green.
