The Secret Account

Thirteen years. That’s how long we’ve been building this life. We started at nineteen,

brick by brick, constructing a fortress of security. We wanted it bulletproof. The house,

the careers, the investments, the nest egg. Even the boat. It was all a meticulously

crafted stage for the main event: our daughter. She is four weeks old.

Perfect. Innocent. We had a plan, forged in the fire of a tragedy that

happened back in 2017. His brother was five months old when he died in

the care of a daycare worker. That trauma set the rules of our marriage in stone:

strangers do not watch our blood. We lined up every duck, maximized every