Chapter 7 - THE PLAN TO MAKE MAYA PAY
Rebecca called Special Agent Reeves the following morning.
She explained what Paul Mercer had disclosed.
Reeves listened carefully.
When she finished, he said, "Please have Mr. Mercer's attorney contact us directly."
Rebecca agreed.
"And the alleged contingency agreement?"
"We'll seek the original through appropriate legal process."
After the call, Maya sat motionless across from Rebecca's desk.
"They planned to blame me."
Rebecca chose her words carefully.
"According to Paul, there may be a document designed to shift responsibility onto you."
"But I never managed those transactions."
"That's why we need to establish the true record."
Maya looked at her.
"What if David forged everything?"
"Then the evidence of forgery becomes extremely important."
Rebecca opened another file.
"We also need to challenge the guarantees and determine which assets are legally yours."
Maya stared at the stack of documents.
For years, she had believed that David's obsession with control came from arrogance.
Now she understood that control served another purpose.
He needed her to remain uninformed.
He needed her name.
Her signature.
Her credit.
And her silence.
That afternoon, Natalie Price contacted Rebecca's office.
She had heard about the federal inquiry through another employee.
She wanted legal advice before speaking.
Rebecca referred her to independent counsel.
Two days later, Natalie agreed to a voluntary interview with investigators.
Maya was not present.
But Rebecca later told her that Natalie had provided information relevant to David's awareness of the hospital calls.
The precise details remained confidential.
Maya did not receive a transcript.
She didn't need one to understand how much her husband's priorities had distorted their family.
Instead, she focused on the part of her life she could still control.
She began sorting Lily's belongings.
Rachel helped her arrange the boxes.
Clothing.
Books.
School supplies.
Drawings.
A collection of colorful hair ribbons.
The stuffed rabbit Lily had carried everywhere since she was three.
Maya placed each item carefully.
Some went into storage.
Others she kept in the apartment.
She was not ready to decide what should happen to everything.
And Rachel never pressured her.
One evening, they found a blue notebook beneath Lily's bed.
Its cover was decorated with silver stars.
Rachel opened it.
Inside were drawings, little stories, and lists written in Lily's uneven handwriting.
One page contained a title.
Things I Want to Do With Mommy and Daddy.
Beneath it were five items.
Go camping.
Build a snowman.
Ride bicycles together.
Visit the aquarium.
Have a family picnic.
Maya sat down.
She remembered Lily asking David to take her camping.
He had promised they would go when business slowed down.
Business never slowed down.
She remembered the aquarium.
David canceled that trip for a meeting.
The picnic.
He spent most of it answering emails.
And the bicycles.
He bought Lily the most expensive bicycle in the store, then never made time to ride beside her.
Rachel watched Maya turn the pages.
"She loved making lists."
Maya nodded.
"She said lists made adventures feel real."
Rachel smiled sadly.
On the final page, Lily had drawn three figures standing beneath a large yellow sun.
A woman.
A little girl.
A man.
Above them were the words:
Our family, when everybody has time.
Maya closed the notebook.
For several minutes, she could not speak.
Rachel sat beside her.
Eventually, Maya whispered, "I kept telling her he was busy."
Rachel nodded.
"I know."
"I told her he loved her."
"Maybe he did."
Maya looked at her.
Rachel continued.
"But love should have been something he showed her, too."
Maya held the notebook against her chest.
That night, she made another decision.
Not about David.
Not about the investigation.
About Lily.
She contacted the hospital's charitable foundation and asked how families helped support children receiving emergency treatment.
The director, Angela Foster, invited her to visit.
Maya explained that she wanted to honor her daughter.
Angela listened.
Then she told Maya about a program that helped families manage practical expenses when a child was hospitalized.
Transportation.
Temporary lodging.
Meals.
Emergency childcare for siblings.
The program was small and frequently short of funding.
Maya remembered sitting alone in the hospital corridor with nobody to call.
She remembered wondering whether David might finally answer.
And she remembered Caroline bringing tea.
"I want to help," Maya said.
Angela smiled gently.
"We would be honored."
Maya looked at the information packet.
For the first time in days, she felt something besides dread.
Not happiness.
Not relief.
But direction.
Outside the hospital, her phone vibrated.
Rebecca.
Maya answered.
"Hello?"
Rebecca sounded unusually serious.
"The investigators obtained additional records."
Maya stopped walking.
"About David?"
"Yes."
"What did they find?"
Rebecca paused.
"Evidence that the contingency agreement was prepared several months ago."
Maya felt cold.
"Before Lily got sick?"
"Long before."
"Why?"
Rebecca exhaled.
"Because David appears to have been preparing for the possibility that his business would collapse."
Maya gripped the phone.
"And he planned to leave me responsible?"
"That is one concern being examined."
Maya looked at the hospital entrance.
People were moving through the sliding glass doors.
Doctors.
Parents.
Children.
Families continuing their ordinary lives.
Then Rebecca said something even more disturbing.
"Maya, we also found evidence that David had been planning to leave the marriage."
Maya closed her eyes.
"With Julianne?"
"It appears so."
"When?"
May you like
Rebecca hesitated.
"Shortly after returning from the Bahamas."
