Chapter 2 - The Laptop in the StudyThree weeks prior to the wedding, Emma had stayed late at the Donovan estate in Lake Oswego while Blake was out attending what he called a 'late-night investor conference.'
She went into his private study to print out medical clearance forms for her upcoming third-trimester checkup.
Blakeâs laptop was open on his glass desk, the screen still illuminated.
An unencrypted chat thread was minimized on the desktop, titled: Project Exit Strategy.
Emmaâs hand had hovered over the trackpad. She wasn't a suspicious person by nature, but a quiet instinct told her to look.
What she read made the blood freeze in her veins.
The thread contained hundreds of messages exchanged between Blake, his mother Eleanor, and his father, Richard Donovan:
Blake: âDonât worry, Mom. The pre-nup is structured so she gets zero equity in the company. Once the baby is born, we file for sole custody based on her income level.â
Eleanor: âGood. A third-grade teacher is not representative of our family legacy. Make sure she signs the medical trust waivers before the wedding.â
Blake: âShe trusts me completely. She won't read the fine print. Chloe and I are taking the jet to St. Barts the week after the ceremony while Emma stays home.â
Emma had sat in the dark study for twenty minutes, her chest heavy, tears stinging her eyes.
Blake had never loved her. His family had never accepted her. To them, she was merely an uneducated incubator from the working classâa inconvenience to be used for a public relations boost and then discarded, her baby taken from her arms by high-priced corporate lawyers.
Emma had wiped her tears, pulled an encrypted flash drive from her handbag, and downloaded every single file, voice memo, and financial ledger from his server.
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She didn't scream. She didn't confront him.
She prepared.
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