Page 43 of The Next Mrs. Parrish

Nancy shook her head. “No, in fact, he kind of made a joke of it. Said it caught his eye and he hoped I wouldn’t think it was cheap, said he had a feeling it was a good luck charm. And then one daywhen I was taking it off it came apart.” She lifted it over her head and pulled a tiny bar on the side. “It’s a flash drive. He put a picture of the two of us on it. I was hoping it might have information on it, you know, some kind of file pertaining to the patent or something, but there’s nothing. Just the photograph.”

A lightbulb went off in Amber’s mind. “Could I see it?”

“Um, okay, sure.” Nancy handed it to Amber.

“Do you mind if I take a look on your computer?”

“I guess not. I’ll grab my laptop.”

She was back in a minute with it. When she turned it on and slid the flash drive in, it was just as Nancy said, a picture popped up of Nancy and Shane.

“Can I try something?” Amber asked.

Nancy slid the laptop over to her. Amber used a shortcut to open the flash drive’s folder. No files showed up. But Amber knew a thing or two about computers. During her tenure working for Jackson’s assistant at Parrish Industries, she’d learned plenty about how to corrupt, hide, and password protect files when she was gaslighting his assistant in order to replace her. She went to the view tab and poked around in advanced settings before checking for hidden files, folders, and drives. That’s when the screen populated.

“What is that?” Nancy pointed to a file labeled Development.

“I have a feeling it’s the ticket to taking down Wade Ashford.”

– 26 –

DAPHNE

“Under no circumstances should you agree to move back into that house.” Howard Grimms, Dean’s family law colleague, sits across from me at a glass table in his office. He’s taken over my case, but Dean will stay on the team at Meredith’s request.

“How can I not? If I don’t, Bella will think I don’t care about her. Jackson’s not going to let me talk to her, and besides, she’s too young to understand all the complexities of this situation. And I’m already guilty in Tallulah’s mind. Every day that goes by more damage is being done to my relationship with them.”

He shakes his head. “Look, I get it. But don’t you see that by moving back in with him you’re negating your claims that your husband was abusive and that he engineered what happened all those years ago when you were committed? How are we going to convince Family Court that he’s the unfit parent, not you, if you move back into the house? And he’s still married. That’s not going to look good.”

I sigh, not wanting to admit he’s right, even though I know he is. “Have you made any headway with DCF? Where are they with the investigation?”

He purses his lips. “They’ve barely started. They’re overworked and understaffed. Since the girls are in a stable environment, they see no need to expedite things.”

My heart is pounding so hard I put a hand to my chest trying to slow it. “So you expect me to just sit back and wait while they take forever to do their jobs? I can’t do that!”

“You have to think of the long—”

I spring up from my chair, pacing now. “If you say the long game, I’ll scream. This is not a game. This is my life. My children’s lives. You don’t know what Jackson is like. The gaslighting. The psychological games. I will not subject my children to that. I have to move back in and protect them.”

He throws his hands up. “It’s your decision. I think it’s unwise, and I’m strenuously advising against it. You’d be at his mercy. He can spin this any way he wants, and you could end up in worse shape.”

“You think my chances are better if I refuse him and hope that the investigation bears out the truth, that I’m a good mother and they have no reason to keep me from the girls?”

He nods. “Exactly. By acquiescing to him now, in the long run you may lose big-time. I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you, but isn’t it better for your kids to be sad for a couple of months and then back with you for good, rather than risk losing them?”

Dean gives me a sympathetic look. “I have to agree with Howard. I think you need to ride this out.”

I sit back down. “Realistically, when can I expect to be cleared?”

“It could take sixty days or even longer. I’ve got the affidavit from your therapist, and I’ve sent that over to them. We’re working on getting character references from all the names you and Meredith gave us. I’ll stay on their backs and try to get this cleared up sooner. That will help.”

“I appreciate that. Okay. I’ll call Jackson and tell him that I can’t move in. I just hope by the time this is over my daughters don’t hate me.”

Both Dean and Howard stand, a signal that the meeting is over. I gather my things and walk to the door. “Please, do your best tomake this go away sooner rather than later. I don’t know how long I can go on like this.”

Howard nods. “I promise.”

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