What He Did While Our Baby Was in the NICU
Chapter 13 - What He Did While Our Baby Was in the NICU
For twenty-four hours, I could not look at Camden's face in photographs.
Not even Lila's baby pictures.
Especially those.
There was one from her third day in the NICU.
She weighed four pounds, seven ounces.
Camden stood beside the incubator wearing a disposable yellow gown. One finger rested against Lila's palm.
She had wrapped her hand around it.
I loved that photograph.
It had lived on my nightstand for three years.
Now I knew that on the same day, he had sent a forged authorization changing the residual beneficiary of my mother's trust.
To Lila.
The strangest part was that the change benefited her.
That was what made it so hard to understand.
"Why would he forge me to give our daughter more?" I asked Naomi.
We sat in Mara's conference room surrounded by files.
"Control."
"How?"
"The prior trust terms split the residual benefit between you and future descendants. By making Lila sole beneficiary while she was a minor, Camden may have believed he could influence the money as her father."
"He wasn't trustee."
"No. But parents often assume being a parent means control."
"So he forged my signature to cut me out."
"Possibly."
Mara entered carrying coffee.
"Or to protect the trust from Claire's creditors."
Naomi nodded.
"That too."
I stared at both of them.
"You're telling me there could be a legitimate reason?"
"A legitimate goal," Mara said. "Not a legitimate signature."
Again.
The ten percent truth.
The trick Camden lived inside.
I called him that afternoon.
Mara advised against it.
I did it anyway.
This time, I recorded the call legally under our state's one-party consent rule after Mara confirmed I could.
Camden answered immediately.
"I was wondering when you'd call."
"You changed the trust after Lila was born."
Silence.
"So Natalie talked."
"Why did you do it?"
"To protect her."
"From me?"
"From everyone."
"You forged my signature."
"You were recovering from an emergency delivery."
"That is not an answer."
"You would have signed it."
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The entire marriage in one sentence.
You would have.
Therefore I could.
"You don't get to decide what I would have done."
"I was trying to keep the trust out of probate exposure."
"My mother already did that."
"Not cleanly."
"Why Lila alone?"
"Because she was the only person in this family who hadn't made a mess yet."
My throat tightened.
"You mean you."
"I mean all of us."
"No. Don't spread your choices around until they become weather."
He went quiet.
I surprised myself with that sentence.
Maybe him too.
"I loved you, Claire."
"Past tense?"
A pause.
"I love you."
I looked out Mara's office window.
Traffic moved below.
A woman pushed a stroller across the corner.
"Did you approach me because of my mother's records?"
"Yes."
The word was so direct it hurt.
"Did you plan to marry me?"
"No."
"Did you search my mother's house?"
"Not until after she died."
My stomach turned.
"How many times?"
"Twice."
"Did you find the safe?"
"Yes."
"Did you find the records?"
"No."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
"Because by then you were my wife."
I almost laughed.
"That is exactly when you should have told me."
"You would have left."
"Maybe."
"So I was right."
"No, Camden."
I spoke slowly.
"You were afraid."
He said nothing.
"Being afraid of the consequence does not give you the right to erase my choice."
His breathing changed.
For the first time, I heard something that sounded like shame.
Then it was gone.
"Hale Coastal collapses if this keeps going."
"You did that."
"Not alone."
"Your father started it. You continued it."
"Three hundred people lose jobs."
"Then tell the truth and restructure."
"You think lenders care about truth?"
"I think your daughter deserves her emergency fund."
"I can replace it."
"With stolen trust money?"
Silence.
I continued.
"One hundred eighty thousand to the lender. The rest to Belize."
His voice sharpened.
"Who told you that?"
"Does it matter?"
"Peter has no idea what that account was for."
"Natalie does."
Another silence.
Longer.
"You have no idea who you're trusting."
"I know."
It came out quietly.
"That's the lesson, isn't it?"
He breathed out.
"Claire, stop making this about our marriage."
I stared at the phone.
"You took our daughter's money on a vacation with your mistress."
"That was stupid."
"Stupid?"
"Yes."
"Not cruel?"
"I never intended Lila to lose a dollar."
"Intent is not a refund."
He said nothing.
I felt tired suddenly.
Not triumphant.
Not powerful.
Just tired.
"What do you want from me?" I asked.
"Come to the board meeting Friday."
"Why?"
"The trust now controls thirty-four percent. Judith can vote the shares."
"She won't vote the way you want."
"She will if you ask."
"Ask her to do what?"
"Approve emergency financing."
"From where?"
"Private capital."
"Whose?"
"Peter has options."
"Peter resigned."
That landed.
Camden swore.
"You didn't know?"
He hung up.
Three minutes later, Peter called Mara.
Camden had just tried to access the forensic backup server.
The credentials failed.
Then another alert arrived.
Someone attempted to log into Judith's trust portal.
Failed.
Then my email.
Failed.
He was moving faster now.
Sloppier.
Cornered people do.
That evening, Sienna called from a number I did not recognize.
"I have the phone."
"What phone?"
"The recording."
My pulse jumped.
"You went back to the island?"
"No. I had a resort employee retrieve it from the safe."
"How?"
"Money."
Of course.
"Where are you?"
"In my car."
"Send the recording to Mara."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because Camden knows I have it."
My body tightened.
"How?"
"He just called me from outside my apartment."
I stood.
"Call the police."
"I did."
"Stay on the line."
"Claire."
Her voice broke.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything."
Then I heard a knock through her phone.
Not loud.
Three slow taps.
Sienna whispered, "He's here."
The call ended.
For twenty-seven minutes, no one could reach her.
When police finally entered her apartment, Camden was gone.
So was Sienna.
On her kitchen counter, they found the second phone.
The recording was still on it.
And the last thirty seconds captured a conversation neither Camden nor Sienna knew had been preserved.
It began with Camden saying, "You were supposed to help me bury Claire."
And ended with Sienna saying, "I already sent her everything."
She hadn't.
Which meant she had lied to make him believe the evidence was out.
May you like
The question was why.
We found out when police located her at midnight—with blood on her dress and Camden's car abandoned beside her.
