Chapter 2

Daniel was silent for a beat.

"What do you mean, why? It was one building. The company funds charitable projects all the time. Why are you making a scene over this?"

His tone sharpened.

"You should be worrying about Noah's exam. I've already planned his celebration. If he does badly, how am I supposed to face everyone?"

For the past three years, Daniel had grown more impatient with me by the day.

I forced down my anger. The Whitfield exam was only three days away, and I refused to let our home explode before Noah finished it.

But how dare Daniel lecture me about our son's future?

During Noah's three years at Northview, his father had come home so rarely I could have counted the visits on one hand.

I opened the report from Ray Delaney, the private investigator I had hired.

Every night Daniel had not come home, he had been taking Rachel's son out to the best restaurants, resorts, and stores in the city.

In Noah's freshman year, some Northview teachers skimmed the basics in class and saved the advanced material for paid evening sessions. After his first monthly assessment, Noah took his score report to Daniel.

"Dad, can I enroll in the review program? I can work during the holidays and pay you back."

Daniel barely glanced at the page.

"Do students without private tutoring never get into college? Why should you be the exception?"

That same year, Evan Carter had received more than seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of private instruction.

In Noah's sophomore year, Northview offered a technical practicum. Noah wanted the 3-D printing workshop, but it charged an additional materials fee. I knew he had secretly taken a part-time job, so I offered to pay the fee quietly and let him enroll.

Daniel refused.

"Why can't he choose something traditional and free? You are the reason his expectations are so high."

Now I knew Evan had spent that summer in an international technology program overseas, with every cutting-edge course included. It had cost hundreds of times more than Noah's materials fee.

I asked Ray to organize every receipt, photograph, and message. Then I drove to Northview to meet Noah after school.

He usually told me not to come because he did not want me making an extra trip. That day, however, I needed to see my son more than anything.

At the school gates, I spotted Evan Carter.

Rachel Miller stood beside him.

That was how I discovered Daniel had assigned Noah to tutor Evan.

For a moment, all I could hear was a high, electric ringing in my ears.

Noah explained in a low voice, "Dad said a woman he knows is staying in our old house. He arranged for me to tutor her son so I could earn some spending money. I thought..."

My hands shook so badly I had to close them around my purse.

What was I supposed to say? That this woman and her son were the second family his father had been supporting behind our backs?

When Noah first heard that the Bennett family had supposedly gone bankrupt, the shock gave him a fever for three days. His exam was days away. I could not tear his world apart now.

"And today?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"Mrs. Miller wants me to predict which topics might come up. Northview's practice sets are supposed to be the best in the district."

When he finished, Noah looked at me as if he desperately wanted my approval.

I hesitated.

Rachel suddenly linked her arm through mine.

"That isn't a problem, is it, Claire? Or was there something you wanted to tell him?"

Her false sweetness made my stomach turn.

Inside my purse were copies of Daniel's transfers. Grace Holloway, my attorney, had been blunt with me: if I wanted the prenup enforced and Daniel stripped of every claim against my family's assets, I needed more firsthand evidence, and I could not let him know I was looking.

So I smiled.

"Of course it isn't a problem. I'll come with Noah."

Rachel had not expected that answer. She froze, and the corners of her mouth tightened.