Chapter 7 - Suzanne’s New Home
Suzanne had changed clothes only once.
She had traded her heels for Skylar’s slippers.
When Skylar entered the apartment with two officers behind her, Suzanne was standing beside an open closet, sorting through Skylar’s dresses.
Derek waited near the doorway.
His face looked calm, but his eyes went immediately to the packet against Skylar’s chest.
“You brought cops into my home?”
Skylar glanced at Lieutenant Hayes.
Then back at Derek.
“I’m here for my belongings.”
Suzanne walked into the living room holding one of Skylar’s coats.
“You abandoned the residence.”
“It’s been four hours.”
“You ran away.”
“After Derek assaulted me.”
Suzanne looked at the officers.
“She’s always been unstable.”
Lieutenant Hayes’s voice remained even.
“Ma’am, put the coat down.”
Humiliation flashed across Suzanne’s face.
She dropped it onto a chair.
Derek stepped closer to Skylar.
“What did you tell them?”
“The truth.”
His gaze fell to the sealed report.
He understood immediately.
Skylar saw the realization spread across his face.
Evidence.
Dates.
Photographs.
A doctor’s signature.
Something he could not charm, threaten, or explain away.
“Give me that report.”
He lunged.
The officer blocked him.
Skylar delivered the warning she had prepared in the hospital.
“Touch it, and they see everything.”
Suzanne called her a liar.
Lieutenant Hayes ordered Derek to step away.
Then Skylar placed her mother’s envelope beside the wedding ring.
“Read what I left behind.”
Derek froze.
His mother-in-law’s name was written beneath his.
Catherine Monroe.
He had spent years telling Skylar that Catherine trusted him completely.
But the envelope existed because she had not.
Derek looked at Maya, who had entered behind the officers carrying a document box.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
Maya set the box down.
“Nothing your wife’s mother didn’t authorize.”
Suzanne’s eyes dropped to the papers inside.
A property deed was partially visible.
She rushed forward.
“What does that say?”
Maya closed the lid.
“That is none of your business.”
Suzanne looked at Derek.
May you like
His silence gave her the answer she feared.
👉 Suzanne had believed Derek owned the apartment—but the deed in Maya’s box threatened the future they had secretly planned together.
