Chapter 3

Cora Frank

The camera captured everything.

Wednesday afternoon. Hudson's office. He sat at his desk, phone pressed to his ear, voice low and intimate.

"I know, I know. I miss you too." A pause. "Is he asleep? ...Good. Tell him Daddy loves him."

Daddy.

My stomach turned to ice.

He continued: "I'll come by tomorrow. Same time. Does he need anything? More of those fruit pouches? The organic ones?"

Another pause. A soft laugh. "Yeah, he's my little lion. Okay. Love you."

He hung up. Sat for a moment, smiling at nothing. Then he straightened his tie-the red polka dot one-and returned to work.

I watched the footage three times. Then a fourth.

My little lion.

I remembered the grocery list I'd found in his briefcase last month. He'd claimed it was for office supplies, but I'd seen the items: organic fruit pouches, toddler snacks, baby wipes.

When I asked, he'd sighed. "For a client. Single mom. I was just trying to help."

Just trying to help.

I drove to his office the next day, a carefully packed lunch bag in my hands. The receptionist recognized me-her eyes widened with that familiar mix of pity and wariness. The crazy wife. Back again.

"Cora!" Hudson stood from his desk, surprise flickering across his face before his professional mask slid into place. "What a lovely surprise. Is everything okay?"

"I brought you lunch." I held up the bag. "Homemade."

He hesitated. "That's... sweet. But I have a client meeting in twenty minutes-"

"It'll only take a minute."

I walked past him into his private office and unpacked the containers one by one. I'd prepared them carefully that morning.

The first container: organic fruit pouches. The exact brand from his grocery list.

The second: toddler snacks. The same ones from the camera footage.

The third: baby formula. Unopened.

Hudson's face went pale.

"What is this?" His voice was tight.

I smiled. "Baby food. Since you seem to enjoy buying it so much, I thought you might like to try some."

"Cora-"

"Who is he, Hudson?" My voice remained calm, conversational. "Your son. What's his name?"

"This is ridiculous. I told you-"

"The client's child. Right. The single mom you're 'just helping.'" I picked up one of the fruit pouches, turning it over in my hands. "Funny thing about these. They're for toddlers. One to three years old. The client's daughter you mentioned was seven."

He said nothing. His jaw worked silently.

"I checked your office calendar, Hudson. Every Wednesday, you have a 'recurring client meeting' from 2 to 4 PM. But your parking records show you leave the garage at 1:45 and don't return until 4:30." I tilted my head. "Where do you go for those two hours and forty-five minutes?"

"Cora, you need to calm down." He stepped toward me, hands raised in that placating gesture I knew so well. "Your anxiety is-"

"Don't." The word cracked out of me like a whip. "Don't you dare tell me this is my anxiety. Not this time."

I reached into my purse and pulled out a folded document. I'd picked it up from the lab that morning.

"I took a sample from your hairbrush. And I may have... borrowed... a sippy cup from the daycare address I found on your GPS history." I unfolded the paper and laid it on his desk. "The results came back this morning."

He stared at the document. His face drained of color, leaving only a sickly gray pallor.

"Probability of paternity: 99.9999%," I read aloud. "Congratulations, Hudson. You have a son."

"Cora-"

"How old is he?"

Silence.

"Hudson. How old is your son?"

"Three," he whispered.

Three years old. The same age as the baby I'd lost. The baby that died while I was drowning in the stress of his lies.

I felt something crack inside me-but it wasn't the shattering of my sanity. It was the breaking of chains I hadn't known I was wearing.

"Her name is Bridgett Palmer," I said. "Your college sweetheart. The one you 'helped' with a job three years ago. The one you swore you'd cut all ties with." I laughed-a hollow, terrible sound. "You never stopped seeing her, did you? You just got better at hiding it."

He didn't deny it. He couldn't.

"I'm going home now," I said quietly. "And I'm going to pack my things. When I return, I expect you to be gone."

"Cora, wait-"

"No." I held up my hand. "You've had three years of me waiting. Three years of me doubting myself. Three years of me apologizing for things you did. I'm done waiting."

I walked to the door, then paused.

"One more thing. Sunday dinner. Your parents, my parents. I'll handle the invitations." I looked back at him, and for the first time in three years, I wasn't afraid. "And I'll invite Bridgett and your son. It's time everyone met the whole family."