Chapter 3 - Avery Reads the Certificate
In the kitchen, Avery’s phone shook in her hand.
Her eyes moved across the screen, scanning the blurred document preview Leah had sent earlier. Leah could see the moment Avery found Nolan’s name. Then Marisol’s. Then the date.
Three years ago.
Avery looked up slowly.
“Nolan,” she whispered. “What is this?”
Nolan stood too quickly.
“Don’t listen to her.”
“It’s a marriage certificate.”
“It’s fake.”
Leah, still on the floor, breathed through another wave of pain. “It’s certified. County record. You can call the clerk.”
Vivian crossed her arms. “Leah has always been good at creating drama.”
Avery looked at Vivian, stunned. “You knew?”
Vivian’s mouth tightened.
That small pause answered more than any confession.
Avery stepped back until her hip hit the kitchen island. “You all knew?”
Their father stared into his coffee.
Nolan moved toward Avery, hands raised. “Baby, listen to me. It was a mistake. It wasn’t real.”
Avery flinched away from him.
“A legal marriage isn’t real?”
He glanced at Leah with hatred bright in his eyes. “Marisol used me. She trapped me. I was going to fix it.”
“You proposed to me,” Avery said. Her voice cracked. “You planned a wedding.”
“I love you.”
“You lied to me.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
Leah closed her eyes for one second.
There it was. The language of every man who thinks harm becomes smaller if he renames it.
Nolan turned back toward Leah.
“You couldn’t stand seeing me happy.”
Leah looked at the rod on the floor, then at her knee, then at her mother still standing there like a judge pleased with the sentence.
“You weren’t happy,” Leah said. “You were hiding.”
His face darkened.
He took one step toward her.
Leah shifted the phone slightly in her pocket, making sure the microphone stayed clear.
Nolan leaned down.
“You think anyone will believe you? Mom will say you fell. Dad will say nothing. Avery will be too embarrassed to go public. And you?” His voice lowered further. “You’re the unstable daughter who always causes problems.”
Leah met his eyes.
“They already heard you.”
May you like
For the first time, Nolan looked at her hand.
And saw the phone.
