Chapter 2 - The Kick Wasn’t Just Jealousy—My Husband and His Mistress Needed My Unborn Daughter Gone Before a $600 Million Trust Changed HandsBy sunrise, Elise had stopped thinking of the gala as the night her marriage ended.
It was becoming something much worse.
The night she discovered her marriage might never have been a marriage at all.
Johnny called Gabriel.
Within an hour, Gabriel had brought in Rebecca Sloan, an independent attorney who had no connection to the Thornes, the Hayes family, or Matthew.
That was Johnny's idea.
“You need your own lawyer.”
“You have lawyers.”
“Exactly.”
Elise frowned.
“You don't trust them?”
“I trust them to protect me.”
Johnny pulled a chair beside her bed.
“You need someone whose only obligation is protecting you.”
Rebecca arrived at six thirty.
Forty-one.
Dark suit.
No nonsense.
She read the photographed message.
Then asked Elise about the Bennett Trust.
“My grandfather created it.”
“When?”
“Before I was born.”
“Beneficiaries?”
“My mother originally. Then me.”
“And your child?”
Elise swallowed.
“She becomes the primary successor beneficiary when she's born.”
Rebecca's pen stopped.
“When she's born alive?”
“Yes.”
“And before birth?”
“If I die without a living descendant, I think my spouse inherits a controlling portion.”
Johnny swore quietly.
Rebecca looked at him.
“Mr. Thorne.”
“Sorry.”
“You should be.”
He actually nodded.
Elise would have laughed under different circumstances.
Rebecca continued.
“Did Matthew know?”
“He helped review our estate planning.”
“Of course he did.”
“Is that bad?”
“Potentially catastrophic.”
Elise thought of the agreement.
“He gave me documents recently.”
Rebecca looked up.
“What documents?”
“A marital estate revision.”
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
“At home.”
Johnny reached for his phone.
Rebecca stopped him.
“No.”
He looked irritated.
“I was calling Gabriel.”
“We don't know whether the house is secure.”
Johnny's expression changed.
Rebecca continued.
“We do this through lawful channels.”
“I know how lawful channels work.”
“Then you'll enjoy watching them.”
Elise almost smiled.
Johnny looked at her.
“You're enjoying this.”
“A little.”
“Traitor.”
For the first time since the gala, she laughed without pain.
Then Rebecca became serious.
“Mrs. Hayes, we need police involved immediately.”
“They already arrested Seraphina.”
“For assault.”
“This may be conspiracy.”
The word chilled the room.
Conspiracy.
Not adultery.
Not betrayal.
A plan.
Elise remembered Matthew insisting she increase her life insurance.
Matthew convincing her to move assets into a marital trust.
Matthew becoming angry when she delayed signing the revised estate agreement.
Matthew suddenly wanting a baby after years of claiming they should wait.
Her stomach turned.
“Was the pregnancy planned?” Rebecca asked.
“Yes.”
“Whose idea?”
Elise couldn't answer immediately.
“Matthew's.”
Johnny's face became stone.
Rebecca kept her expression neutral.
“Did he know the trust provisions before suggesting it?”
“Yes.”
Elise began shaking.
Johnny moved forward.
Then stopped himself.
“Elise?”
She reached for him.
He took her hand.
Not tightly.
Just enough.
“Oh my God.”
Rebecca waited.
“Matthew didn't want children when we married.”
“People change,” Johnny said quietly.
Elise shook her head.
“Not like this.”
She remembered.
A board meeting.
Her twenty-ninth birthday.
Matthew coming home with champagne.
Maybe it's time we make this family real.
She had cried with happiness.
They tried for fourteen months.
Fertility appointments.
Hormone tests.
The heartbreak of negative pregnancy tests.
Then finally—
two pink lines.
Matthew had picked her up and spun her around the kitchen.
Had that been real?
Was any of it?
Rebecca's phone rang.
She stepped into the hallway.
Johnny remained beside Elise.
“Don't do it.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“Don't rewrite every happy memory tonight.”
“How can I not?”
“Because you don't know yet.”
“I married a man who may have wanted me dead.”
“Yes.”
“You don't sound shocked.”
“I've met Matthew.”
“Johnny.”
“Sorry.”
She closed her eyes.
“I feel stupid.”
“Then I'll repeat myself.”
He leaned forward.
“You weren't stupid for believing someone who stood before your family and promised to love you.”
“What if he never did?”
“Then that makes him a liar.”
Johnny's voice softened.
“Not you a fool.”
Rebecca returned twenty minutes later.
Police obtained a warrant.
Matthew was ordered not to enter the Hayes penthouse.
Investigators retrieved the documents.
By afternoon, Rebecca was reading them beside Elise's bed.
Her expression grew worse with every page.
“This is extraordinary.”
“What?”
“The revision transfers temporary control of your Bennett Trust voting interests to Matthew if you're medically incapacitated.”
Elise stared.
“For how long?”
“Until a physician determines you're competent.”
“Which physician?”
Rebecca turned the page.
“Dr. Samuel Rivers.”
Johnny went still.
Elise recognized the name.
“Rivers?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Seraphina's father.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“He's my obstetric consultant.”
Johnny stood.
“What?”
“He joined my medical team four months ago.”
“Who recommended him?”
Elise already knew.
“Matthew.”
The investigation widened immediately.
Dr. Rivers was removed from the hospital.
Another specialist reviewed Elise's medical records.
The findings were horrifying.
She had been prescribed a supplement supposedly intended to control pregnancy-related anemia.
The dosage was wrong.
Not immediately lethal.
But potentially dangerous.
Especially after trauma.
The pills had been prescribed by Dr. Rivers.
Elise stared at the medication list.
“I took these every morning.”
Johnny stood by the window.
He said nothing.
That frightened her.
“Johnny.”
He looked at her.
“Don't do anything.”
His jaw tightened.
“I'm not.”
“Promise.”
“Elise.”
“Promise.”
His eyes met hers.
“I promise I won't interfere with the investigation.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
A long silence.
Then:
“I won't hurt Matthew, Seraphina, or Rivers.”
“Thank you.”
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“I could solve—”
“No.”
He stopped.
Then exhaled.
“Right.”
That became their pattern.
Johnny's instinct was control.
Elise's need was choice.
And every time he stopped himself, something old between them began healing.
Matthew was arrested forty-eight hours later.
Not for attempted murder.
Not yet.
For financial fraud, conspiracy, falsifying estate documents, and witness tampering after investigators discovered he had contacted gala witnesses asking them to describe Seraphina's kick as an accident.
Seraphina remained in custody for aggravated assault.
Her phone gave prosecutors more.
Thousands of messages.
Matthew promising her they would be together.
Matthew discussing the Bennett Trust.
Matthew writing:
Once the baby is born, everything changes. We need Elise to sign before then.
Seraphina:
And if she doesn't?
Matthew:
Dad has another option.
Dad.
Elise read the message three times.
“Whose father?”
Johnny looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel answered.
“We're working on it.”
The answer came that evening.
Not Matthew's father.
Seraphina's.
Dr. Rivers.
But there was another name hidden throughout the messages.
C.B.
Johnny recognized it first.
“Charles Bennett.”
Elise stared.
“My father?”
Her father had died nine years earlier.
Johnny's face had gone pale.
“Elise.”
“What?”
“I need to tell you something else.”
She hated those words now.
“What?”
“Your father didn't only threaten me fifteen years ago.”
Johnny sat.
“Years later, he came to me again.”
“When?”
“Three months before he died.”
“Why?”
“He wanted money.”
“My father was worth millions.”
“Not then.”
Elise frowned.
Johnny explained.
Charles Bennett had secretly borrowed against portions of the family trust.
Bad investments.
Private debts.
Offshore accounts.
He was desperate.
Johnny refused.
Three months later, Charles died.
Elise inherited control of the remaining trust at thirty.
But Charles had left something behind.
A series of private agreements with Dr. Rivers.
The two men had created shell companies designed to siphon money from the Bennett holdings.
Matthew discovered those agreements after marrying Elise.
Instead of exposing them—
he continued them.
The affair with Seraphina gave him access to Rivers.
The marriage gave him access to Elise.
The pregnancy created a deadline.
Once Elise's daughter was born, Matthew's ability to inherit controlling assets would collapse.
Elise stared at the ceiling.
“My daughter was supposed to protect the trust.”
Rebecca nodded.
“In a way.”
“And they needed me to sign before she was born.”
“Yes.”
“What if I didn't?”
Nobody answered.
Elise looked at Johnny.
“What if I didn't?”
His expression told her.
She turned away.
The baby kicked.
Elise pressed both hands over her stomach.
“No.”
Johnny moved closer.
“They didn't win.”
“Not yet.”
“They won't.”
“You can't promise that.”
“No.”
He crouched beside the bed.
“But you can fight them.”
Elise looked at him.
“Not we?”
“Not unless you ask.”
Her eyes filled.
“You've changed.”
“Painfully.”
She almost laughed.
Then she whispered:
“Help me.”
Johnny's expression softened.
“How?”
“Find out everything.”
“I can do that.”
“Legally.”
His face fell.
“You take all the fun out of things.”
“Johnny.”
“Yes.”
“Legally.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Three days later, Elise was discharged.
She refused to return to the penthouse she shared with Matthew.
Johnny offered the Thorne estate.
She refused that too.
Instead, she rented a furnished apartment under security arranged jointly by Rebecca and a licensed firm.
Johnny did not argue.
Much.
“You have one elevator.”
“It works.”
“Only one secure stairwell.”
“Johnny.”
“The windows face an adjacent building.”
“Johnny.”
“I've seen safer grocery stores.”
“Then don't move in.”
His eyebrows rose.
“I wasn't invited.”
“Exactly.”
He smiled.
“Good to know where we stand.”
They stood closer than they should have.
For a second, fifteen years disappeared.
Then Elise stepped back.
“I'm still married.”
“I know.”
“I'm pregnant.”
“I noticed.”
“My life is a disaster.”
“Also noticed.”
“I don't need a romance.”
His smile vanished.
“I know.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Johnny considered lying.
She saw him decide against it.
“Because I loved you at twenty.”
Her breath caught.
“And apparently,” he said quietly, “some parts of me are extremely slow learners.”
Elise looked away.
“You disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You don't get to come back because my husband failed.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to rescue me and call that love.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to decide we're destiny.”
“I know.”
She looked at him again.
“Then what do you want?”
Johnny's answer was simple.
“A chance to know who you are now.”
Before Elise could answer, her phone rang.
Rebecca.
“Elise?”
“What happened?”
“We found another account.”
“What account?”
“A custodial account created yesterday.”
“For who?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“For your daughter.”
“That sounds good.”
“It would be.”
A pause.
“If Matthew hadn't named himself sole controller.”
Elise's blood chilled.
Rebecca continued.
“And there's something else.”
“What?”
“The account contains forty-eight million dollars.”
Elise stopped breathing.
“Where did it come from?”
“Your trust.”
“I didn't authorize that.”
“I know.”
“Then who did?”
Rebecca's voice hardened.
“Someone forged your signature.”
Elise closed her eyes.
Matthew had not merely betrayed her.
He had begun stealing from their unborn daughter.
And for the first time since the gala, Elise didn't feel broken.
She felt furious.
“Rebecca?”
“Yes?”
“Freeze everything.”
“We already started.”
“Call an emergency board meeting.”
“Elise—”
“Tomorrow.”
Johnny watched her.
Rebecca understood.
“All right.”
Elise ended the call.
“What are you doing?” Johnny asked.
She looked toward him.
“Matthew spent years thinking I was useful because I was quiet.”
May you like
A cold smile touched her lips.
“Tomorrow I'm going to show him what happens when I stop being useful.”
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