The night I discovered my husband\u2019s mistress was pregnant, I did not scream.<\/p>\n
I stood outside a private dining room at the Hawthorne Hotel and watched Daniel Mercer place his hand gently over Ashley Reed\u2019s stomach.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake good care of yourself… and the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
For nine years, Daniel had called me his partner.<\/p>\n
I helped build Mercer Technologies from a borrowed office.<\/p>\n
I invested money from my father\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n
I worked behind the scenes while raising our seven-year-old son, Noah.<\/p>\n
Yet Daniel had spent the last year telling reporters he was a self-made man.<\/p>\n
Ashley noticed me first.<\/p>\n
Her smile vanished.<\/p>\n
Daniel turned.<\/p>\n
Instead of looking ashamed, he looked irritated.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire, this isn\u2019t the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at his hand still resting on Ashley\u2019s stomach.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley lowered her eyes.<\/p>\n
Daniel sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll discuss it at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was enough.<\/p>\n
I turned and walked away.<\/p>\n
Inside my car, I called my attorney, Rebecca Sloan.<\/p>\n
\u201cActivate the documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
She paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked back at the hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two months earlier, Rebecca and I had prepared protections after I discovered unusual movements in company accounts.<\/p>\n
At midnight, I returned home.<\/p>\n
I packed one suitcase for myself.<\/p>\n
One for Noah.<\/p>\n
I removed my passport, family jewelry, financial records, and the original Mercer Technologies shareholder agreement from the safe.<\/p>\n
Then I woke Noah gently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Aunt Megan\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Dad coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward the empty hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took my son by the hand.<\/p>\n
And before Daniel came home, we were gone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The night I discovered my husband\u2019s mistress was pregnant, I did not scream. I stood outside a private dining room at the Hawthorne Hotel and watched Daniel Mercer place his hand gently over Ashley Reed\u2019s stomach. \u201cTake good care of yourself… and the baby.\u201d For nine years, Daniel had called me his partner. I helped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-607","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}