Chapter 4 - THE ACCOUNT HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT
By morning, the hospital room had become a fortress.
My father had moved a chair beside the door.
My sister Rachel arrived at six.
She took one look at me and covered her mouth.
“Oh, Evie.”
I couldn't look at her.
“I should've known.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“I lied to you.”
“You were surviving.”
“I should've told you.”
“You're telling me now.”
She hugged me carefully.
Then she asked the question everyone eventually asked.
“What happens next?”
I didn't know.
My father did.
“We build a case.”
He placed a folder on the table.
I stared at him.
“What's that?”
“Your bank records.”
My stomach tightened.
“How did you get those?”
“I didn't.”
He pushed the folder toward me.
“You did.”
I opened it.
The secret account.
Every deposit.
Every withdrawal.
Every transfer.
Julian had apparently discovered the account, but he hadn't discovered everything.
There were years of small deposits.
$20.
$40.
$75.
Sometimes only $10.
My emergency money.
My escape plan.
My father looked at the pages.
“You've been saving this for a long time.”
I nodded.
“I wanted to leave.”
“Why didn't you?”
I looked toward the window.
“Because every time I got close, he became nicer.”
Rachel frowned.
“What?”
“That's how he controlled me.”
I swallowed.
“He would hurt me. Then he'd apologize. Then he'd bring flowers. Then he'd promise it would never happen again.”
My father looked away.
“And you believed him.”
“I wanted to.”
Silence filled the room.
Then my father's phone buzzed.
He checked the screen.
“What's wrong?”
He showed me a message from our attorney.
Julian's lawyer had filed an emergency motion claiming I was emotionally unstable and financially irresponsible.
I laughed.
It wasn't funny.
“He's already doing it.”
My father nodded.
“He's trying to control the story.”
Rachel sat beside me.
“What story?”
“That I attacked him. That Evelyn is unstable. That she hides money. That she is unfit to parent.”
My blood ran cold.
“They'll believe him.”
“No,” my father said.
He opened another document.
“Not if we give them everything.”
“What everything?”
“Your bank records. Your medical records. Your photographs. Your messages. Your sister's testimony.”
He paused.
“And the recording.”
I looked at him.
“What recording?”
My father didn't answer.
Rachel did.
“The one you sent me two years ago.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
“You sent me a voice memo.”
“I don't remember.”
“You said you were scared.”
I stared at her.
“I deleted it.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You asked me to keep it.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Where is it?”
Rachel took out her phone.
She played the file.
Julian's voice filled the room.
“You think you're leaving me?”
My own voice answered.
“Please don't.”
His voice became colder.
“If you ever take Ethan away from me, I'll make sure you regret it.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
My father slowly stood.
“That changes everything.”
But then another message arrived.
This one was from Detective Hayes.
They had found something in Julian's truck.
A second phone.
Registered under another name.
And it contained dozens of searches.
My father's face hardened.
“What searches?”
I asked.
He read them silently.
Then he looked at me.
“Evelyn…”
“What?”
He hesitated.
“Your husband has been searching for private investigators.”
“For me?”
“No.”
May you like
His eyes darkened.
“For your father.”
