Chapter 7
I told him everything that night, sitting in the hard plastic hospital chair, Ethan asleep between us, his small hand wrapped around my finger.
I told him about the letters.
About what Clara had written.
About Evelyn stealing from the foundation.
About the threats she’d made against Mom.
About why I’d run.
Daniel didn’t say a word the whole time.
Just sat there, his face getting darker and darker, his hands clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.
When I finished, he stood up.
“Stay with him,” he said, his voice so cold it made me shiver. “Don’t leave him alone for a second.”
He left before I could ask where he was going.
I didn’t see him again until the next morning, when the doctor said Ethan could go home.
He was standing by the car, waiting for us, his face blank, two police officers behind him.
“Daddy?” Ethan said, sleepy, as Daniel lifted him into his car seat. “Why are the police here?”
Daniel smiled, soft, brushing the hair off his forehead.
“Just some grown-up business, buddy,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. You’re safe now. Everyone is.”
We drove home in silence.
When we pulled up to the mansion, there were three more police cars in the driveway.
Reporters were behind the gate, holding cameras, yelling questions.
Daniel carried Ethan inside, handing him to the nanny.
“Take him to the playroom,” he said. “Don’t let him come out for anything.”
He turned to me.
“Come with me.”
We walked to the library.
Evelyn was sitting on the couch, two police officers on either side of her, her face pale, her hair messy.
She looked up when we walked in, her eyes blazing.
“Daniel, tell these idiots to leave,” she snapped. “I am your mother. You cannot do this.”
Daniel didn’t look at her.
He walked to the desk, picking up a thick stack of papers, and threw them on the coffee table in front of her.
Bank statements.
Receipts.
Text messages.
The letters Clara had written.
“Everything is here,” he said, his voice flat. “The $2.3 million you stole from the foundation over five years. The $50,000 you paid the mechanic who worked on Clara’s car the day before she died. The texts you sent him, telling him to cut the brake lines. The threats you made against her. Against my son. Against the woman I love.”
My breath caught.
The woman I love.
Evelyn stared at the papers, her face draining of all color.
“Where did you get these?” she whispered.
“I’ve had my accountant looking into the foundation for a year,” Daniel said. “I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t want to believe it was you. Last night, after you left the hospital, I went to the mechanic. He confessed. Everything. He’s testifying against you in exchange for immunity.”
Evelyn broke.
She started crying, reaching for Daniel, the police officers holding her back.
“I didn’t mean for her to die!” she screamed, tears running down her makeup-caked face. “I just wanted to scare her! I wanted her to leave! She was going to send me to prison! She was going to take everything from me! I’m your mother, Daniel! You can’t do this to me!”
Daniel looked at her then.
His eyes were dead.
No love.
No sadness.
Nothing.
“You killed my wife,” he said, quiet, every word sharp as a knife. “You tried to kill the mother of my child. You threatened the woman I love. You are not my mother. You are a monster. And you are going to spend the rest of your life in prison where you belong.”
He nodded at the officers.
“Take her away.”
They pulled her up, dragging her toward the door.
She screamed the whole way, cursing, yelling, fighting, until the front door slammed shut behind her.
The house was dead silent.
I stood there, frozen, my hands shaking.
Daniel turned to me.
He crossed the room in three steps, pulling me into his arms, holding me so tight I could barely breathe.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice breaking, crying into my hair. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. I’m so sorry I let her hurt you. I’m never letting anyone hurt you again. Ever. I promise.”
I held him back, crying into his chest, letting all the fear and the pain and the stress of the last few months wash out of me.
Outside, the police cars pulled away, sirens wailing soft in the distance.
It was over.
Evelyn was gone.
She could never hurt us again.
Never hurt Ethan.
May you like
Never hurt Mom.
We were safe.
