Chapter 2 - The Hidden Message
Three days later, Joanna was discharged from the hospital under strict doctor's orders to remain on total bedrest. Instead of returning to the apartment she shared with Derek, she stayed at a quiet extended-stay suite near her doctor’s office in Buckhead, paid for by an emergency transfer from her mother’s modest savings.
Derek had tried calling three times. Joanna hadn't answered a single one.
She spent her afternoons resting, eating nutrient-rich meals prepared by Linda, and focusing entirely on keeping the twins stable. The smaller twin—whom the ultrasound technicians affectionately referred to as Twin B—was still growing slowly, but her heartbeat was steady, a tiny drum corps fighting for its place in the world.
While resting on the sofa, Joanna’s phone buzzed on the coffee table.
Expecting another frantic text or voicemail from Derek, she ignored it. But the phone buzzed again. And again.
Missed Call: Unknown Number. New Voicemail (1).
Frowning, Joanna picked up the device and tapped the screen. The voicemail was from an Atlanta landline. She pressed play, expecting a debt collector or a telemarketer.
Instead, a raspy, unfamiliar female voice filled the speaker.
“Joanna? If this is Joanna... listen to me very carefully. You don't know me, but I used to work for Meredith Villard as her personal estate manager. I heard what happened to you at the hospital. I left that house because I couldn't stomach her cruelty anymore, but what she did to you crossed a line that even I can't stay silent about. Check the bottom drawer of the mahogany desk in Derek’s home office. Look behind the false back panel. There’s a file there. A file Meredith made sure your husband never saw—about why she was so desperate to get rid of you before the babies were born. Please... for your children's sake, find it.”
The voicemail clicked off.
Joanna sat frozen, the phone trembling in her palm. Her breath caught in her throat.
A false back panel in Derek's home office desk.
She looked across the room at Linda, who was folding laundry near the kitchenette. “Mom,” Joanna whispered, her voice tight with sudden adrenaline. “We need to go back to the apartment.”
Linda stopped folding, dropping a towel onto the counter. “Absolutely not, Joanna. The doctor said absolute rest. If Derek is there—or if Meredith drops by—it’s too dangerous.”
“Mom, listen to me,” Joanna said, her eyes burning with determination as she swung her legs over the edge of the sofa. “We’re not going to see Derek. He’s at his downtown office until six o'clock every Tuesday. But there is something in that apartment—something Meredith hid. A file. Something she didn't want us to find.”
Linda stared at her daughter, reading the fierce resolve in her expression. Without another word, Linda grabbed her car keys off the counter. “Let’s go.”
Thirty minutes later, using her own spare key, Joanna quietly unlocked the front door of the apartment she had shared with Derek.
The place felt strange, like a museum dedicated to a life she used to live. It was quiet, smelling faintly of the expensive lavender detergent Meredith had insisted they use.
“Go straight to the office,” Linda whispered, standing guard by the entryway. “I’ll watch the hallway.”
Joanna hurried down the short corridor, pushing open the door to Derek’s home office. The room smelled of polished mahogany and expensive cologne. She walked directly to the heavy executive desk—the one Meredith had purchased for Derek as a promotion gift three years ago.
She dropped to her knees, pulling open the bottom drawer. She emptied the tax files, old receipts, and unused stationery onto the carpet.
Reaching inside the empty drawer, she felt along the back wooden wall.
Her fingers brushed against a tiny, hidden groove.
With a soft click, a thin plywood panel slid backward, revealing a narrow hidden compartment tucked deep within the desk's frame.
Inside sat a single, thick manila envelope stamped with a red confidentiality seal from a private Atlanta medical clinic, dated nearly four years ago—long before Joanna and Derek had even met.
Joanna pulled it out, her hands shaking so violently she dropped the desk drawer back into place. She sat directly on the floor, tearing open the heavy paper seal.
Inside were medical records, psychiatric evaluations, and legal correspondence.
As Joanna’s eyes scanned the first page, her blood ran instantly cold. The breath rushed out of her lungs as though she had been struck in the chest.
The papers weren't about her.
May you like
They were about Derek.
And the terrifying truth of why Meredith controlled him so absolutely—and why she wanted Joanna’s children out of the picture entirely—was laid out in black and white.
