Chapter 3 - The Wolf at the Table
I stood in the bathroom for three minutes, letting the cold water run over my wrists until my racing heart slowed down.
In my thirty years as a high school principal, I had learned one crucial lesson: when you encounter a predator, you never show your hand before you have the cage built around them. Spencer wasn't just a dishonest son-in-law; he was a sociopath with unlimited financial resources, backed by his family's influential law firm in downtown Milwaukee. If I confronted him right now in the backyard, he would deny everything, isolate Chloe, and use his legal team to frame me as an unhinged, meddling mother-in-law.
I pocketed the drive, dried my hands, and walked back out onto the sunlit patio.
The party was in full swing. Guests were eating slices of the pink cake, laughing, and offering toasts to the unborn baby girl.
Spencer was standing near the outdoor bar, holding a crystal tumbler of scotch. He looked relaxed, radiant, the dutiful husband beaming in the glow of congratulations. But as I approached the table, I noticed how he watched Chloe.
Chloe was sitting in a wooden glider under the shade of the oak tree. She wasn't eating her slice of cake. She was staring at her phone, her thumb hovering over the screen, her chest rising and falling in shallow, panicked breaths.
I sat down on the bench beside her, taking her cold hand in mine.
"Chloe," I murmured softly. "Talk to me."
She flinched slightly, quickly locking her phone screen, but not before I caught a glimpse of a text thread. The contact at the top was labeled simply: Dr. K.
"Mom," Chloe whispered, her eyes darting toward Spencer, who was currently talking to his father near the grill. "Something isn't right."
"What is it, baby?"
"I went to my private clinic appointment two days ago," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the chatter of the party. "Dr. Kendra—the specialist I started seeing on my own last month—ran an independent blood panel. She promised she wouldn't post the sex result to the main patient portal until Monday morning."
"Okay..."
"So how did Spencer know to order a pink cake this morning?" Chloe looked into my eyes, raw fear shining through her tears. "I never saw the envelope. Spencer brought the cake box directly to the house today and said the clinic had delivered the results straight to the bakery. But Dr. Kendra just texted me."
She unlocked her phone and tilted the screen toward me.
Dr. Kendra: "Chloe, I haven't released your test panel yet. Who picked up your file? Someone accessed your chart from an unauthorized IP address at 6:00 AM."
My mind pieced the terrifying puzzle together. Spencer hadn't just bribed the bakery; he had illegally breached Chloe's medical records to find out that she was carrying a boy—a healthy, thriving male child that triggered his family’s inheritance trust.
And because he wanted to keep control of the money without his father taking over, he was hiding the truth from everyone—including Chloe. He wanted her to believe she was having a girl so he could manipulate the corporate timeline behind the scenes.
"Mom," Chloe whispered, her body shivering despite the warm afternoon heat. "Why would Spencer lie to me about our baby being a girl?"
"Because he thinks he’s playing a game, sweetheart," I said, leaning in close and pressing my forehead against hers. "But he doesn't know who he's playing against."
Suddenly, a shadow fell over both of us.
"Everything okay over here, ladies?"
Spencer was standing above us, holding two fresh glasses of sparkling wine. His wide, charming smile was back, but his eyes were sharp as razors as they dropped to Chloe's phone.
"You look tense, honey," Spencer said, stepping between us and resting his hand firmly on Chloe’s shoulder. "You should be celebrating. We're getting our little princess."
I stood up slowly, looking my son-in-law straight in the eye.
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"She's just tired, Spencer," I said, my voice smooth as silk. "It's been a long journey to get to this baby. But don't worry... the truth always has a way of coming to light."
Spencer’s smile stiffened. "It certainly does, Evelyn. It certainly does."
