separate accounting and any appropriate legal claims.
Naomi made certain I understood that distinction.
I wasn’t secretly hiding the children or relying on a misleading phrase buried in a document.
Conrad had been told what he was agreeing to.
He simply hadn’t cared enough to listen.
On the morning the decree became final, he arrived in an expensive suit with a new watch and a fresh haircut.
He smelled of the cologne Mae used to call Daddy’s special smell.
When I placed the passports on the conference table, he seemed offended that I had taken his permission seriously.
“You’re really leaving?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ll regret making this permanent.”
I looked at him steadily.
“It’s the first decision I’ve made in years that feels like my own.”
He walked out without saying goodbye.
Outside, rain had begun to fall against the courthouse windows.
My mother waited in a silver SUV with Theo and Mae.
She had offered to travel with us for the first two weeks to help the children settle into their new home.
Before I reached the vehicle, the driver handed me a sealed envelope.
Naomi had arranged for a courier to deliver the latest documents from Evelyn’s investigation.
Inside were certified property records, transaction summaries, a comparison of corporate payment approvals, and photographs connecting Conrad, Celeste, and Rowan to the waterfront apartment.
One particular document caught my attention.
It was a company payment authorization carrying my electronic signature.
I had not authorized that payment.
I was still examining the date when my phone rang.
Conrad.
Forty minutes earlier, he had been celebrating the beginning of his new life.
Now his voice sounded almost unrecognizable.
“Leona, the doctor says the baby’s not mine.”
I sat down on the curb beside the SUV.
“What?”
“Celeste showed me a paternity report last week.
She swore the baby was mine.
But I insisted we complete the independent test we arranged earlier.
The doctor gave us the verified results today.”
His voice broke into a whisper.
“I’m excluded as the biological father.”
I said nothing.
I didn’t know whether I felt shock, anger, pity, or exhaustion.
The woman who had helped destroy my marriage had apparently been deceiving Conrad as well.
But the discovery didn’t undo what he had done to our children.
“She’s lying to me,” he continued.
“She changed the report.
I don’t understand why.”
I pictured the photograph of Celeste and Rowan inside the penthouse.
Suddenly, I had a very uncomfortable suspicion.
“Conrad, where is Rowan Arden?”
He went quiet.
“How do you know that name?”
“Answer me.”
“He’s here.
Celeste says he’s only helping her manage some property paperwork.”
In the background, I heard a man demanding that Celeste stop talking.
Then Conrad began asking questions that had nothing to do with the baby.
“How much money do you have left? Can you get access to cash quickly?”
“Why?”
“I need to sort something out.
The apartment, the transfers, everything.”
I felt a cold certainty settle over me.
He knew.
He knew the money hadn’t gone where he claimed.
“What transfers?” I asked.
He stopped speaking.
Then he said, “We can fix this, Leona.
I made a mistake.”
“You made more than one.”
“Please come back.”
I looked through the SUV window.
Mae was sitting beside Theo with
