Chapter 10 - THE PRICE OF BETRAYAL
Daniel stared at the ledger.
Rachel began to explain, but he slapped her so hard she fell against the crib.
The sound snapped something inside me.
I stood despite the pain and stepped between them.
“Touch her again.”
Daniel looked almost amused.
“You can barely stand.”
“But I’m not drugged now.”
His eyes narrowed.
Rachel crawled toward the door.
Daniel grabbed her hair.
I seized the wooden letter S from the floor and struck his forearm. He released her with a curse.
Rachel ran.
Daniel turned on me.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then my phone began recording from the dresser.
I had activated it when Rachel entered.
Daniel saw the screen.
He lunged.
I threw the phone through the open nursery window.
It landed in the hedge below.
Daniel reached me before I could move. He pinned my shoulders against the wall, careful not to leave visible marks on my face.
“You think a recording saves you?”
“It saves Rachel.”
His confidence flickered.
Outside, a car engine started.
Rachel was leaving.
Daniel rushed downstairs.
I locked the nursery door and retrieved the ledger.
My abdomen tightened again.
This contraction lasted longer.
I called Rebecca from the landline.
She answered immediately.
“I have the ledger,” I said. “Rachel is a witness.”
“Get out of the house.”
“I can’t.”
“Emily, Daniel’s guardianship was temporarily suspended ten minutes ago. Ortiz obtained a warrant.”
Relief nearly dropped me to my knees.
Then Rebecca added, “But Judge Hale disappeared.”
Glass shattered downstairs.
Daniel shouted Rachel’s name.
I climbed through the nursery window onto the sloped porch roof. Rain had begun falling. My bare feet slipped against the shingles.
Police sirens approached.
Below me, Daniel dragged Rachel from her car.
She screamed.
I threw the blue ledger into the neighboring yard.
Mr. Bennett stepped from behind his fence and caught it.
Daniel saw him.
He released Rachel and ran toward the gate.
Police vehicles turned onto our street.
Mr. Bennett disappeared into his house with the evidence.
Daniel stopped.
He looked up at me on the roof.
Then he smiled.
He pulled out his phone and called someone.
“You need to activate the mother,” he said.
Across the street, an upstairs curtain moved.
A woman stood behind the glass.
Even through the rain, I recognized her face from the photograph.
May you like
Evelyn Carter.
Daniel’s mother had been living directly across from us.
