Chapter 10 - The Mother-in-Law Who Never Liked Me
Julian’s mother, Margaret Harper, had always been polite to me.
That should have made me suspicious.
No warmth.
No open hostility.
Just perfect Christmas cards and compliments that never touched anything real.
She and Richard served together on a hospital foundation board.
For seventeen years.
Julian claimed not to know.
I believed him.
Mostly.
Margaret had introduced Julian to my hospital’s charity committee where we first met.
I always thought it was random.
It wasn't.
Richard wanted someone close to me who understood finance.
Margaret supplied her son.
The possibility made Julian physically ill.
“You think my mother arranged our marriage?”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“She arranged a meeting.”
That distinction mattered.
Ten years cannot be manufactured from one introduction.
But someone can open a door.
We drove to Margaret’s home.
She did not pretend innocence.
That shocked me.
“Yes, I knew Richard was your father.”
Julian stared at her.
“How?”
“He told me.”
“Before I met Emily?”
“Yes.”
Julian stood.
I thought he might leave.
Instead he laughed.
“You used me.”
“I introduced two compatible people.”
“You reported on her.”
Margaret’s expression changed.
Small.
Guilty.
She had provided Richard with information.
My schedule.
Pregnancy history.
Leo’s milestones.
Our financial planning.
“Why?”
“Because Richard promised to help Julian.”
“With what?”
Julian’s face went pale.
Student debt.
Not ordinary student debt.
A business loss from before our marriage.
$340,000.
Julian had never told me.
Richard quietly covered it through Margaret.
My husband entered our marriage financially tied to my biological father without knowing the relationship.
Or claiming not to.
“Did you know where the money came from?” I asked.
“No.”
Margaret answered for him.
“He did not.”
That actually helped.
Then she admitted Richard recently demanded repayment.
Not money.
Cooperation.
That was why she gave him family information.
But Margaret insisted she never helped fake medical records.
“Who did?”
“I thought Sophie.”
Another circle.
Everyone thought Sophie.
Too convenient.
I asked Margaret about Leo’s school authorization.
Her face changed.
“That was mine.”
Julian stood so fast his chair fell.
“You tried to take my son?”
“No. Richard asked me to test whether the school would release him.”
“That is trying to take my son.”
She started crying.
“I thought it was procedural.”
Again.
Paperwork.
Procedure.
No one ever intended harm while signing forms designed to destroy lives.
Then Margaret opened a locked drawer.
“I kept this because I stopped trusting him.”
A printed email from Richard.
Subject:
Phase III.
Once Emily challenges Julian’s loyalty, separation becomes likely. Custody conflict will accelerate the incapacity finding.
I looked at Julian.
Richard wanted us suspicious of each other.
The mistress setup.
The necklace.
The perfume.
The hidden cameras.
Every clue nudged me toward believing my husband was cheating.
And I had followed perfectly.
But one question remained.
Who had placed Sophie in our house in the first place?
Margaret whispered:
“Emily… Julian never hired her.”
He turned.
“What?”
She slid over payroll records.
The payments came from his business account.
But the authorization did not originate from Julian.
It came from someone with full accounting access.
His office manager.
A woman I had trusted for nine years.
May you like
My best friend.
Claire.
