Forever After (Unrestrained 5)

"What?" A shock of adrenaline went through me. "They said I was emailing Lisa? That's categorically untrue. I never emailed Lisa. Never."

She nodded, but I could tell she wasn't sure.

"You believe me, right?" I said, tilting her chin up and forcing her to look in my eyes."

"Of course," she said and once more, she plastered a smile on her face. “They showed me three that came from an email with your name, but even Lisa said they were obviously fake.”

“What they hell? What did they say?”

She shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “One said you were sick of me fighting you all the time and that I wasn’t a real submissive. That you couldn’t do with me what you really wanted because you were afraid I’d report you to your supervisor and get you in trouble…”

”That’s ridiculous,” I said, a shock going through me that Lisa would stoop so low and that the emails might make Kate doubt me. " They’re fakes. I never emailed Lisa. Nothing professional and certainly never anything personal so I don’t know where they got that idea."

"They had emails…"

I took her face in my hands, needing her to understand. To know that they weren’t real.

“Kate, you have to believe me. I would have told you if I ever emailed her for any reason. And you are a perfect sub for me. I loved you from the start. Everything about you.”

I sat and frowned, trying to think of how Lisa would get email from me. Then it hit me. I had sent several emails to the group of new residents in neurosurgery about rounds, but Lisa would only be cc'd on the email. Like every other resident in the program. Nothing was addressed to her directly. Still… She could have taken the email and done something to it. I didn’t think it was possible to edit an email you received from someone else, but I wasn't all that technically savvy. For all I knew, she could have done something with them. Edited the emails to make it look like I sent them to her alone. Faked them.

"There were a couple of group emails I sent to the program about lectures I'd be giving on robotic surgery in pediatric patients. But nothing was ever personal and nothing was addressed only to Lisa."

Finally, Kate met my eyes on her own. "Do you think she was trying to set you up?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn’t put anything past her. At this point, I think she's capable of anything. She thought she could force me into a relationship with her. When she couldn’t, she figured she could take you out of the picture…"

Kate brushed her fingers through my hair. "She probably thought she'd console you on the loss of your wife and unborn baby and you’d fall into her arms…"

"She's delusional if she thought that. More likely she was trying to hurt me because I rejected her."

Kate sighed and laid her head against my shoulder. "I'm so sorry all this happened. I feel like I'm not being a good wife for you. No sex for months…"

“Shh,” I said and shook my head. “Not another word about it. You go to bed if you're tired. I'll come to bed when I’m finished."

"Are you sure?" she asked, meeting my eyes.

"Yes," I said and kissed her softly on the lips. "You go. You're tired. I'll be up soon."

Then she left the living room and took the stairs to the second floor where our bedroom and Sophie’s room were located. There was also a guest room, two bathrooms and my office, now that we had both floors renovated.

On my part, I quickly tidied up the main floor, tucking the New York Times into its place by the fireplace, then folded the throw blanket on the sofa. While I tidied up, I thought about the news that Lisa had some fake emails from me and wondered what they said. She could have written anything.

I turned off the lights and climbed the stairs to the second floor and went to my office, which was off Sophie’s room. I was careful to be quiet and sat down at my desk, clicking on my iMac so I could check over my email once before I headed to bed.

I searched my email for anything from Derek Richardson, wondering if I should contact him and see what he knew about Lisa and what he thought she was capable of. I hadn’t spoken to him since before the attack.

I found his cell number and called, but there was no answer and the phone went right to voicemail – a pre-recorded message by the automated system. Instead of leaving a message, I sent him an email.

TO: Richardson, Derek (Richardson Securities Inc.)

FROM: Morgan, Drake, MD.

RE: Lisa

Hey Derek. When you get this, please give me a call. I’m wondering what you think of everything that’s happened since the attack on my wife, Kate. The police asked me about my relationship with her and you, so be prepared to get a call or visit. Did you have any idea that Lisa was this unstable? Did she do anything during your time together, did you ever hear anything about her background that might make you concerned? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Cheers,