Chapter 1 - The Slap
The slap cracked through the kitchen so hard Emily saw white.
Her shoulder struck the marble counter. One hand flew to her burning cheek. The other locked around the curve of her seven-month belly.
“Don’t you EVER talk back to me in my own house!” Margaret Cole screamed.
Emily stared at her mother-in-law. For a second, she couldn’t even breathe.
“I’m seven months pregnant,” she whispered. “Are you out of your mind?”
Margaret stepped closer, pearls trembling at her throat. “You think carrying my son’s baby makes you untouchable?”
“Stay away from me.”
Margaret grabbed Emily’s wrist.
“You came into this family with nothing. This house. This money. The life you’re living. You have all of it because of my son.”
“Let go of me!”
Emily ripped her arm free. Margaret’s hand rose again.
This time, Emily caught her wrist.
“No.” Her voice shook, but her grip didn’t. “You hit me once. You will never hit me again.”
Margaret gave a cold little laugh. “And who’s going to believe you?”
“I will.”
Both women froze.
Ethan stood in the doorway, still wearing his suit from the office. His face had gone pale.
Margaret lowered her hand at once. “Ethan, sweetheart, this isn’t what it looks like.”
He walked past her and stared at Emily’s cheek. Then his eyes dropped to the red marks around her wrist.
“Did she do this to you?”
Emily’s eyes filled.
Margaret cut in. “She’s manipulating you. She’s been trying to turn you against me since the day you married her.”
Ethan looked at his mother. “You hit my pregnant wife.”
“It was one slap.”
“One?” His voice exploded. “You think the number makes it better?”
He pointed toward the front hall. “Get out.”
Margaret’s mouth fell open. “You’re throwing your own mother out because of her?”
“No. I’m throwing you out because you put your hands on the woman carrying my child.”
Something ugly flashed in Margaret’s eyes.
“You have no idea what she’s been hiding from you.”
Emily went still.
Ethan noticed.
“What does she mean?”
Margaret reached into her purse and pulled out a white envelope.
Emily’s face drained of color.
“Margaret, don’t.”
Margaret smiled as she held it out.
“Before you throw your mother out of this family, maybe you should find out whether that baby is even yours.”
Ethan opened the envelope.
Emily started crying.
May you like
And then Ethan read the line that made his hands shake.
Probability of paternity: 0.00%.
