Chapter 6 - What Her Mother Had Seen
Skylar wanted to open the envelope immediately.
Maya stopped her.
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“Because once you read it, you’ll have decisions to make. And Derek will realize very quickly that he has lost access to something he believes belongs to him.”
Skylar looked through the hospital window at the morning light spreading across Miami.
“What did my mother know?”
Maya hesitated.
“Six months before she died, Derek asked her to place the apartment into a joint marital trust.”
Skylar frowned.
“He told me that was her idea.”
“It wasn’t.”
Maya opened her leather case and removed several photocopied emails.
Derek had written to Skylar’s mother repeatedly.
He called the apartment an underperforming asset.
He suggested borrowing against it.
He asked for authorization to manage Skylar’s inheritance because Skylar was “emotionally fragile.”
Her mother had refused every request.
The final email was only one sentence.
My daughter’s grief is not your business opportunity.
Skylar pressed a hand over her mouth.
“She knew.”
“She suspected.”
“And she never told me?”
“She tried. You defended him.”
Shame washed over Skylar.
Maya took her hand.
“You were grieving. He made himself necessary when you were vulnerable. That was deliberate.”
The medical report arrived in a sealed packet.
It documented soft-tissue injuries, facial swelling, wrist bruising, and a split lip consistent with Skylar’s account.
Lieutenant Hayes returned.
“Your husband has called twice claiming you stole confidential business property.”
“The phone belongs to him,” Skylar said.
“The recording doesn’t.”
Maya stood.
“Skylar needs to retrieve personal documents, medication, and clothing.”
Hayes nodded.
“We’ll escort her.”
Skylar’s fear returned instantly.
Maya placed the sealed envelope beneath the medical report.
“You do not have to confront him.”
Skylar looked at her mother’s handwriting.
For years, she had mistaken silence for weakness.
Now she understood that Derek had depended on her silence.
“I’m not going back to fight him,” she said.
May you like
“I’m going back to make sure he can never rewrite what happened.”
👉 When Skylar returned with police protection, Derek was already waiting—and Suzanne had begun treating the apartment as her own.
