rah with a purity that now seemed foolish. When we first married, my business was just taking off. I worked

son or daughter of our own. But Emily had been a difficult teenager, and Sarah had

t now, David," she'd pleaded. "Plea

d all that paternal love into Emily, convinced that a stepfather's love could be just as strong. I paid

Sarah was laughing

spent wandering in a daze, I had started to clean out her things. Tucked away in the back o

di

filled the pages, not with memories of our life together,

steady. His money will be so useful for getting Robert back o

in while I was on business trips, the "loans" I gave her that went d

for a happy family. They saw me as a tool, an obstacle to be managed until t

hilling. They were written in the

e. But his life insurance policy is substantial. Robert had a brilliant idea. A pact. It' s romantic, in a way. Like Romeo and

grief. I was an afterthought.

zy. I stood up from my desk, the ghosts of the past fuel

da's. I walked through the rooms, no longer seeing a home, but a crime s

urse, it wasn't there yet. That was years in the future. But I had to know. I had to fin

. Nothing. Then I saw it. A shoebox on the top shelf, just lik

Robert. Written years ago, when he was supposedly overseas and they were divorced. But th

h him, knowing you have to pretend to love that fool. But be patient. Our plan is workin

Em

I was just the temporary caretaker, the

and Robert, taken a few months ago. They were on a beach, his arm around her, both o

r. The third wheel

n I read her will. I stumbled back, clutching my chest, the same tearing pain from before ripping

arkness take me. I fought against it, my fingernails digging into my

be my guide. They had built their future on