Chapter 5: The Person Behind the Unknown Number
Chapter 5: The Person Behind the Unknown Number
For nearly a full minute, I couldn't move.
The photo remained on my phone screen.
It wasn't an old picture pulled from social media.
I was wearing the green maternity sweater I'd bought only last week. My hair was tied back with the same blue scrunchie now lying on Grandma Evelyn's bathroom counter.
Someone had been there.
Watching me.
Watching my baby.
My hands shook so violently that I almost dropped the phone.
Grandma knocked softly on the bedroom door.
"Rowan? I heard you walking."
I quickly unlocked the door.
The moment she saw my face, she knew.
"What happened?"
Without speaking, I handed her the phone.
She adjusted her reading glasses, read the two messages, then stared at the photograph.
Her expression changed from concern to something colder.
"This isn't about the affair anymore."
I nodded.
"No."
"It's intimidation."
The next morning, Melissa arranged a meeting with a detective she trusted.
Detective Aaron Morales was calm, practical, and the sort of person who listened before speaking.
He studied the messages for several minutes.
"Don't reply."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
He looked up.
"Has anyone besides your family known where your prenatal appointments were?"
I thought about it.
"My doctor."
"The receptionist."
"Blake."
I stopped.
"And Harper."
"Anyone else?"
"My calendar synced to the family tablet at our house."
Melissa frowned.
"Meaning Blake could see every appointment."
"So could Harper if she was there."
Detective Morales nodded.
"We'll subpoena the carrier if necessary."
He paused.
"In the meantime, don't go anywhere alone."
"I can take care of myself."
"I'm sure you can."
His voice remained gentle.
"But you're not just protecting yourself anymore."
Instinctively, my hand rested on my stomach.
He was right.
Every decision now included someone who couldn't speak for herself.
That afternoon, Blake asked to meet.
Against every instinct, I agreed—but only at Melissa's office.
No restaurants.
No parks.
No places where he could pretend we were simply another couple working through marital problems.
When he walked into the conference room, he looked ten years older.
Dark circles framed his eyes.
His beard had grown unevenly.
The confidence that had once filled every room seemed to have evaporated.
He sat across from me without attempting to smile.
"You got the messages."
It wasn't a question.
"I did."
"I swear they weren't from me."
"I know."
His eyebrows lifted.
"You know?"
"If you wanted to threaten me, you wouldn't have warned me first."
He lowered his head.
"I deserve that."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Finally he reached into his briefcase.
"I brought something."
He slid a thick folder across the table.
"I've already signed over temporary possession of the house."
I blinked.
"What?"
"The mortgage."
"The cars."
"The savings account."
"I told my attorney not to contest any assets that belong to you."
Melissa opened the folder and quickly scanned the documents.
Her eyes narrowed.
"These are legitimate."
I looked back at Blake.
"Why?"
He swallowed.
"Because I stole from you."
The words sounded different spoken aloud.
Less like a legal issue.
More like a confession.
"I kept telling myself I'd pay everything back."
He laughed bitterly.
"Then I started lying to cover the first lie."
"And then another."
"And another."
I said nothing.
"There isn't enough money in the world to undo what I did."
"No."
"There isn't."
He looked down at his hands.
"I've been asking myself when I became this person."
The room remained quiet.
"I don't know the answer."
"I do," I said.
He looked up.
"You became this person the first time you realized you could lie to someone who loved you... and nothing happened."
His shoulders sagged.
"And every lie after that became easier."
A tear rolled down his cheek.
This time, I didn't wonder whether it was real.
It probably was.
Regret often arrives honestly.
Just far too late.
As Blake prepared to leave, he hesitated at the door.
"There's one more thing."
Melissa looked up.
"What?"
"It's about Harper."
My stomach tightened.
"What about her?"
"I ended things after the gender reveal."
"I told her never to contact me again."
He rubbed his forehead.
"She didn't take it well."
"Meaning?"
"She said if she was going to lose everything..."
His voice trailed off.
"...then I'd lose everything too."
The room fell silent.
"What does that mean?" Melissa asked.
"I don't know."
"But she's been calling from different numbers."
"Leaving messages."
"Following me."
I exchanged a glance with Melissa.
The anonymous texts.
The parking lot photo.
The timing suddenly made terrifying sense.
Blake reached into his pocket.
"I almost didn't bring this."
He handed Melissa his phone.
She opened a recent message.
The sender had no name.
Only an unsaved number.
The text read:
You chose the wrong sister. Now watch her lose everything too.
A chill spread through the room.
Detective Morales, who had joined us for the meeting, quietly photographed the screen.
"This changes things."
"How?"
"It suggests whoever is sending the threats has both motive and escalating behavior."
He looked directly at Blake.
"Mr. Carter, from this moment forward, you preserve every message."
Then he turned to me.
"And Mrs. Carter..."
"I know."
He shook his head.
"No."
His expression was deadly serious.
"I don't think you understand."
He placed both phones side by side on the conference table.
The threatening text to Blake.
The threatening text to me.
"They weren't sent from the same number."
I frowned.
"So?"
"They were sent six seconds apart."
The room became impossibly still.
Detective Morales looked at each of us in turn before delivering the sentence none of us expected.
"Which means there may be two people involved."
The air seemed to disappear from my lungs.
If Harper wasn't acting alone...
May you like
Then who had been standing across the parking lot, watching me with a camera?
And why did they care so much about keeping secrets buried?
