Chapter 5 — The Marriage Contract Emily Never Saw
Chapter 5 — The Marriage Contract Emily Never Saw
The photograph of Jason tied to a chair remained on Marcus's phone.
Emily stared at it until the image blurred.
She blinked.
The photograph was still there.
Jason was alive.
At least, he had been when the picture was taken.
His face was bruised.
His wrists were bound.
His head hung forward.
And beneath the photograph were the words:
Stop looking for the other baby.
Emily held Lily tighter.
Marcus was already moving.
“Pack what you need.”
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere they can't find you.”
“Jason is being held.”
“I know.”
“We have to get him.”
Marcus looked at her.
“If we rush in blindly, they'll kill him.”
Emily's eyes filled with anger.
“They already hurt him.”
“And that's why you need to think.”
“I've been thinking for three years.”
Marcus stopped.
Emily's voice shook.
“I've watched my husband let his mother humiliate me. I've watched her control my daughter. I've documented everything because I knew one day something would happen.”
She pointed toward the photograph.
“And now something has happened.”
Marcus said nothing.
Emily wiped her tears.
“You want to protect Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Then help me get Jason back.”
Marcus studied her.
Finally, he nodded.
“But first, there's something you need to know.”
“What?”
“Your marriage.”
Emily frowned.
“What about it?”
Marcus walked to the cabinet.
He removed a thin black folder.
“I found this in the Bennett family archives.”
Emily took it.
Her name was written on the cover.
EMILY CARTER — CONFIDENTIAL
She stared at it.
“What's inside?”
Marcus looked away.
“The reason Jason married you.”
Emily opened the folder.
The first page was a contract.
At the top:
PRIVATE MARITAL AGREEMENT
Her hands went numb.
She began reading.
Party One: Jason Bennett.
Party Two: Emily Carter.
Date:
Six months before their wedding.
Emily stared at the date.
“That was before he proposed.”
“Yes.”
“Before we even moved in together.”
“Yes.”
She kept reading.
The agreement contained financial terms.
Property restrictions.
Confidentiality clauses.
And one section that made her stomach turn.
Child and Beneficiary Provision.
Emily read it twice.
Then again.
Her voice became barely audible.
“What is this?”
Marcus didn't answer.
She looked at him.
“What is this?”
“It was the condition of your marriage.”
“No.”
Emily shook her head.
“Jason would never—”
“He signed it.”
“Maybe it isn't his signature.”
“It is.”
Emily looked at the page.
The signature did resemble Jason's.
But she still refused to believe it.
“Why would he agree to this?”
Marcus's expression was grim.
“Because Diane made him.”
Emily read the clause again.
In the event that a female child is born during the marriage, said child shall remain under the supervision of the Bennett family trustee until her seventh birthday.
Emily's breathing stopped.
“Seven?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To determine whether she was eligible for the trust.”
Emily turned the page.
There was another clause.
The mother shall not interfere with decisions regarding the child's residence, education, medical care, or financial interests.
Emily felt sick.
“This is why Diane controlled Lily.”
Marcus nodded.
“She wasn't simply controlling your daughter.”
“She was exercising a contract.”
“Exactly.”
Emily's eyes burned.
“But I never signed this.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You weren't shown it.”
“Then how could it be binding?”
“It wasn't.”
Emily looked up.
“What?”
“The contract was designed to frighten you.”
“Then why create it?”
“To make you believe Jason had legal authority to give Diane control.”
Emily sat down.
For three years, every argument had ended the same way.
Diane would say:
“I have rights.”
Jason would say:
“Mom knows what she's doing.”
And Emily would back down.
She had thought she was being unreasonable.
She had thought perhaps she didn't understand the family's traditions.
She had thought she was protecting her marriage.
All along, Diane had been waving a piece of paper Emily had never even seen.
Emily looked at the signature.
“Why didn't Jason tell me?”
Marcus was silent.
“Why?”
“Because he was afraid.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“Again.”
“Yes.”
“That word has destroyed enough lives.”
There was a second document beneath the contract.
A payment record.
Emily stared.
Jason Bennett — $250,000
Purpose: Marriage Arrangement
Date:
Six months before the wedding.
Emily looked up.
“Did Jason get paid to marry me?”
Marcus didn't answer.
“Marcus.”
“Yes.”
Emily felt as though someone had punched her.
“How much?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“To convince you to marry him.”
Emily stared at the document.
The room seemed to disappear.
She remembered their first meeting.
A bookstore.
A rainy afternoon.
Jason had helped her pick up a stack of books she'd dropped.
He'd smiled.
They'd talked for an hour.
She had believed it was spontaneous.
Then coffee.
Dinner.
Flowers.
The proposal.
The wedding.
Lily.
Was all of it arranged?
Emily whispered:
“Did he ever love me?”
Marcus looked at her.
“I don't know.”
That answer hurt more than a lie.
Emily found another envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
She recognized Jason's handwriting immediately.
She unfolded it.
Mother,
I agreed to the arrangement.
But I won't allow you to control the child.
Emily doesn't know. She cannot know.
If she learns the truth, she'll leave.
And if she leaves before the child is born, you will find another way to take control.
The letter ended:
I will protect them even if they hate me for it.
Emily stared at the final sentence.
“Protect them?”
Marcus nodded.
“He knew the contract was wrong.”
“But he still married me.”
“Yes.”
“He still lied.”
“Yes.”
“He let me believe everything was real.”
Marcus didn't defend him.
“He thought he could control the damage.”
Emily folded the letter.
“He couldn't.”
“No.”
She looked toward Lily.
“He failed.”
Marcus nodded.
“He did.”
At 3:14 p.m., they received another message.
This time, it wasn't a photograph.
It was a video.
Marcus played it.
Jason sat in a dark room.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied behind his chair.
A man stood behind him, but his face remained hidden.
The man spoke.
“You have twenty-four hours.”
Jason lifted his head.
“Leave my wife and daughter alone.”
The man laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
Jason stared at him.
“What?”
“Emily was never supposed to see the contract.”
Jason's face changed.
The man continued:
“She was never supposed to know about the trust.”
Jason said nothing.
“And she certainly was never supposed to meet Marcus.”
The video ended.
Emily looked at Marcus.
“Who was that?”
“I don't know.”
“Can you recognize the voice?”
Marcus listened to the recording again.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“I've heard that voice.”
“Where?”
Marcus stood.
“My father's old security tapes.”
Emily felt cold.
“Your father?”
Marcus nodded.
“The man who supposedly died eleven years ago.”
That night, Emily couldn't sleep.
She sat at the kitchen table while Lily slept upstairs.
The marriage contract lay before her.
She read it again.
And again.
Then she noticed something she'd missed.
A handwritten note in the margin.
If child is female, DNA confirmation required.
Emily stared.
DNA confirmation.
The family had planned to test the baby.
Why?
She called Marcus.
“Did they test Lily?”
“Yes.”
“After birth?”
“Yes.”
“Who ordered it?”
“Diane.”
Emily's stomach turned.
“Why?”
“To determine whether Lily was the trust beneficiary.”
“But she wasn't.”
“No.”
“Then what did the test show?”
Marcus paused.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“The original result is missing.”
Emily sat upright.
“Missing?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The hospital archive.”
“Can we get it?”
“I've been trying.”
Emily's mind raced.
If the DNA report proved Lily was Emily's daughter but not the missing beneficiary, then Diane's entire plan had failed.
Unless—
Emily suddenly remembered something.
“The second baby.”
Marcus went silent.
“What if the DNA report wasn't about Lily?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if Diane tested both babies?”
Marcus's breathing changed.
“She could have.”
“And if the babies were switched—”
“We'd need both results.”
Emily stood.
“Then we find them.”
At 11:42 p.m., Marcus returned with a box.
“Where did you get that?”
“Hospital storage.”
Emily stared.
“Is this legal?”
“No.”
She almost laughed.
“Of course not.”
Marcus opened the box.
Inside were old patient files.
He found one.
St. Vincent — Neonatal Unit — Confidential
There were two DNA reports.
Emily's hands trembled.
She read the first.
Infant A: Biological child of Emily Carter and Jason Bennett.
Her eyes filled with tears.
That was Lily.
She read the second.
Infant B: Biological child of Sarah Hale and Marcus Bennett.
Emily froze.
She looked at Marcus.
“You're the father.”
Marcus nodded.
“I always was.”
Emily looked back at the report.
The missing baby wasn't simply Sarah's child.
She was Marcus's daughter.
The rightful beneficiary of the trust.
The child Diane had been hunting for.
The child who had disappeared three years ago.
Emily's voice broke.
“Then Lily was never the target.”
“No.”
“Diane thought she was.”
“Yes.”
“Because someone switched the records.”
“Yes.”
Emily looked at the DNA reports.
“Then who took your daughter?”
Marcus stared at the papers.
“I don't know.”
A long silence followed.
Then Emily noticed something.
At the bottom of Infant B's report was a handwritten notation.
Transferred — Private Guardian.
Beneath it was a name.
Emily leaned closer.
Her heart stopped.
Guardian: Brooke Harrington.
She looked at Marcus.
“Brooke.”
Marcus's face went pale.
“No.”
Emily nodded slowly.
“Brooke had your daughter.”
Marcus shook his head.
“That can't be.”
“It's here.”
He grabbed the document.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he stopped.
A second notation had been added later.
Guardian status revoked — child deceased.
Marcus's face collapsed.
“No.”
Emily watched him.
“You didn't know.”
“No.”
“You thought she was dead.”
Marcus stared at the paper.
Then he whispered:
“Brooke lied.”
Emily's phone suddenly rang.
It was Brooke.
Emily answered.
“Hello?”
Brooke was crying.
“Emily.”
“Where are you?”
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I didn't kill her.”
Emily's heart pounded.
“Who?”
Brooke's voice broke.
“Marcus's daughter.”
Emily gripped the phone.
“Then where is she?”
Silence.
“Brooke!”
“She was alive.”
“Where is she now?”
Brooke whispered:
“Diane knows.”
The line went dead.
Emily looked at Marcus.
His expression had become something Emily had never seen before.
Rage.
Not fear.
Not grief.
Rage.
He stood.
“We're going to the Bennett house.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
Marcus looked at her.
“We need Jason.”
“Yes.”
“And we need Brooke.”
“Yes.”
“And we need the truth.”
Emily picked up the contract.
“And we're going to get all three.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You understand what you're walking into?”
Emily looked toward the bedroom where Lily slept.
“Yes.”
She slipped the marriage contract into her bag.
“I've been walking into it for three years.”
Then she looked at Marcus.
“But this time, I'm not walking in blind.”
Outside, rain began striking the windows.
And somewhere across Chicago, Diane Bennett was waiting.
She had spent three years believing Emily was obedient.
Three years believing Jason was controllable.
Three years believing the missing child was dead.
She had been wrong about all three.
Because Emily now possessed the one thing Diane had never been able to control.
The truth.
May you like
And before sunrise, the woman who had once signed a marriage contract without knowing it was going to tear that contract apart.
Along with the family that had written it.
