Chapter 7
Sophia: [The chemo results today weren't great. Julian said if we can't do the transplant next month, we might have to use stronger meds.]
Frank: [Don't worry. She's already pregnant. Once the baby's far enough along, we can use the umbilical cord blood.
[If that's not enough, we can use the baby's bone marrow after it's born.]
Sophia: [Are you sure she won't find out?]
Frank: [She won't. She's just a housewife, always cooking and looking after the kids. What could she possibly figure out?
[I showed the test results to Julian. The match probability is really high.]
Sophia: [Did you tell your mom?]
Frank: [Yeah. She's fine with it. She's always thought you were better than Emily.]
Sophia: [But Frank, what about after the baby's born? Are you still planning to stay with her?]
Frank: [Once you're cured, I'll talk to her about divorce. I'm already sorting out the finances. I'm gradually moving money out of our joint account. By then, she won't get a dime.]
Sophia: [What if she refuses?]
Frank: [It doesn't matter if she refuses. She has no job, no income. She'll be nothing after the divorce. She'll have no choice but to agree.]
Sophia: [Just be a little nicer to her for now. Don't let her get suspicious.]
Frank: [I know. Don't worry.]
Emily scrolled to the last message. It was from Sophia, sent two hours ago.
Sophia: [Frank, about the bone marrow thing, I only told your sister. She said she's got your back all the way.]
'Your sister?' Emily thought.
In all her five years as Frank's wife, Emily had never once heard him mention a sister. Helen never brought it up either.
She backed out of the chat and opened her contacts. She found the "Project Team" entry and checked the details.
The contact had originally been saved as "Sophia," but later it was changed to "Project Team."
The sound of water in the bathroom stopped. Emily quickly took screenshots of the entire chat and sent them to her own phone.
Then she deleted the sent message and put the phone back on the sofa cushion where it was.
She went back to the kitchen, stood in front of the stove, her hands gripping the counter, her shoulders heaving with each breath.
Frank came out of the bathroom, his hair still wet.
"Emily, have you seen my phone? I think I left it on the sofa," he asked.
"It's on the sofa," Emily replied from the kitchen, her voice perfectly normal.
Frank picked up his phone, glanced at it, locked the screen, and slipped it into his pajama pocket.
He walked over to the kitchen door. "What are you doing?"
Emily replied, "Just warming up some milk. The doctor said having a glass at night helps you sleep."
Frank smiled. "I'll have a glass too."
He walked over, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Emily, have you lost weight lately?" he asked.
"No."
"You need to take care of yourself and eat well now that you're pregnant," he said.
"Yeah," she replied.
Emily poured the warm milk into two glasses.
As she walked out of the kitchen with the glasses, she saw Sophia leaning halfway out of the study, her phone in hand, as if she'd read something important.
Their eyes met for a moment. Sophia ducked back into the study.
Emily went back to the bedroom and closed the door.
She sent the screenshots one by one to John, adding a quick message: [Is this enough?]
Five minutes later, John replied: [It's enough. But there's one more thing.
[You need to actually get those condoms and have them checked—prove someone poked holes in them on purpose. That's the key.]
Emily glanced toward the bathroom. [I'll get them tomorrow.]
Early the next morning, while Frank was at work and Sophia was at the hospital for chemo, Emily put on disposable gloves and grabbed the box of condoms from the bathroom drawer.
There were four left in the box.
She left two in the box and sealed the other two in a bag. She set up a meeting with Linda at a downtown café.
When Linda arrived, her face was dark with anger. "You're telling me he poked holes in the condoms so he could get you pregnant and use your baby as a cure for that woman?"
"Keep your voice down," Emily hissed.
Linda shot back, "Why should I? Emily, is this even something a human being would do?
"What does he take you for? Some kind of livestock? Fatten you up to butcher you for someone else's medicine?"
People in the café started glancing over. Emily quickly pushed Linda's coffee cup into her hand.
"Can you take these two and get them checked out? John said there's a forensic lab downtown that can handle it. I'm worried Frank might catch me if I go myself," Emily said.
Linda gripped the sealed bag tightly in her hand. "Emily, when are you actually going to do something about this?"
"Not yet. I have to wait until they set a date for Sophia's surgery," Emily replied.
"Why wait for her surgery date?" Linda pressed.
Emily didn't answer. She took a sip of water and switched topics. "Can you help me dig up info on someone? Frank's sister.
"I don't even know her name. He's never mentioned her."
"He has a sister?" Linda was stunned.
"Sophia brought her up in the chat. I've been part of the Sanders family for five years, met all their relatives, and nobody ever told me Frank had a sister," Emily explained.