Chapter 6
I woke up early.
Earlier than usual.
The sun was just starting to come up.
Pink and orange light streamed through the bedroom window.
Beautiful.
Peaceful.
A stark contrast to the storm raging inside me.
I checked on Noah first.
He was still asleep.
Thank God.
He needed his rest.
After yesterday...
After everything Diane had put him through.
I made coffee.
Black.
Strong.
I needed to be alert.
I sat at the kitchen table.
Stared at the wall.
Tried to organize my thoughts.
First, I needed to call Lisa.
My lawyer friend.
I had to tell her everything.
But I needed to be careful.
What if our phones were tapped?
Ryan was paranoid.
He had the money and the means to do it.
I decided to call Lisa from a burner phone.
Or better yet, meet her in person.
Somewhere public.
Somewhere Ryan and Diane wouldn't be watching.
I was about to stand up when I heard it.
A key in the front door lock.
My heart stopped.
Who was that?
It was 6:30 in the morning.
Too early for anyone.
The door opened.
Diane walked in.
Like she owned the place.
She was carrying a grocery bag.
Her hair was perfectly styled.
Her makeup was flawless.
She looked like she'd just stepped out of a salon.
Not like someone who'd been up all night plotting.
She saw me sitting at the table.
Smiled.
"Good morning, Sarah. You're up early."
I didn't say anything.
Just stared at her.
She set the grocery bag on the counter.
"I bought croissants. From that bakery you like. The one on Main Street."
She started unpacking the bag.
Acting like everything was normal.
Like she hadn't abused my son yesterday.
Like she wasn't helping her son destroy my family.
"Where's Noah?" she asked.
"Still asleep."
"Good. He needs his rest. After all that cleaning yesterday..."
I stood up.
My chair scraped against the floor.
"Don't you dare talk about that."
Diane turned to face me.
Her smile was gone.
"Or what, Sarah? You'll slap me again?"
She stepped closer.
"I told you yesterday. You made a very big mistake."
"I don't care."
"You should."
She leaned against the counter.
Folded her arms.
"You think you know what's going on? You think you have all the answers?"
I didn't say anything.
She laughed.
"You don't know the half of it, Sarah. Not even close."
"I know enough."
"Do you?"
She tilted her head.
"Did you go into the office last night, Sarah? Did you find Ryan's little secrets?"
My blood ran cold.
How did she know?
"I can see it in your eyes," she said.
"You went in there. You found the phone. The documents. The safe."
She pushed off the counter.
Walked toward me.
"You should have left it alone, Sarah. You should have kept being the good little wife. Then everything would have been fine. You would have been taken care of."
"Taken care of?"
My voice was shaking.
"Like I'm some kind of pet?"
"Don't be dramatic."
"Where is he, Diane? Where is Ryan really?"
She smiled.
"That's not important right now."
"What is important?"
She was standing right in front of me now.
I could smell that Chanel perfume again.
"You need to make a choice, Sarah."
"A choice?"
"Yes. You can play along. Do what we say. And when this is all over, you'll get a nice little settlement. Enough to start over. Enough to take care of Noah."
"And if I don't play along?"
Diane's eyes turned cold.
Colder than I'd ever seen them.
"Then you lose everything. The house. The money. And Noah."
"You can't take my son."
"Can't I?"
She smiled.
"Ryan is his father. And I have friends. Very powerful friends. Friends who can make sure a jury sees you as an unfit mother. A woman who hits elderly women. A woman who is paranoid and delusional."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Try me."
The kitchen was silent.
I could hear the clock ticking.
I could hear my own heart beating.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked.
Diane smiled.
"Good. That's the right question."
She walked back to the counter.
Poured herself a cup of coffee.
Black.
Just like mine.
"First," she said, "you're going to sign these."
She reached into her purse.
Pulled out a stack of papers.
Set them on the table.
I looked at them.
Power of attorney.
Property transfer documents.
Bank account transfer forms.
They wanted me to sign everything over to them.
Everything.
"No," I said.
Diane sighed.
"Sarah, don't be difficult. This is for the best."
"I'm not signing anything."
"Then you leave me no choice."
She pulled out her phone.
Tapped the screen.
Held it up.
A video.
Noah.
Scrubbing the kitchen floor.
But the angle was different.
From the video, it looked like Noah was being... difficult.
Stubborn.
And then...
Then the video showed me slapping Diane.
But it was edited.
The audio was different.
In the video, Diane sounded calm.
Reasonable.
And I sounded like a raving lunatic.
"This video," Diane said, "edited just right, will prove to any judge that you're unstable. Violent. Unfit to be a mother."
"You edited that."
"Does it matter? Who do you think they'll believe? A respected grandmother? Or a woman who hits people?"
She put her phone away.
"Sign the papers, Sarah. Or I'll make sure you never see your son again."
I stared at the papers.
Stared at Diane.
My mind was racing.
I had to buy time.
"I need time to read them," I said.
"You have until tomorrow."
"Tomorrow isn't enough."
"Tomorrow is all you get."
She picked up her coffee.
Took a sip.
"And Sarah?"
"What?"
"Don't even think about calling a lawyer. Don't think about calling the police. We have eyes everywhere. If you so much as breathe a word of this to anyone... Noah will suffer the consequences."
The threat hung in the air.
Heavy.
Threatening.
Diane finished her coffee.
Set the cup in the sink.
"I'll be back tomorrow at this time. Have the papers signed."
She picked up her purse.
Walked to the door.
Paused.
Turned around.
"And Sarah? Next time you decide to go snooping in the office... be more careful. I moved the safe code last night."
She smiled.
Closed the door.
Locked it from the outside.
I stood there.
Alone in the kitchen.
The papers sat on the table.
A death sentence for my family.
But Diane had made a mistake.
She'd told me she changed the safe code.
Which meant she'd been in the office last night.
After I left.
She'd checked everything.
But she hadn't found what I'd hidden.
Because I hadn't hidden anything in the office.
I'd hidden something else.
Something better.
Last night, after I'd left the office, I'd taken one thing.
One small thing.
The second phone.
I'd hidden it in Noah's room.
Inside his favorite stuffed bear.
Diane would never think to look there.
And that phone had everything.
Messages.
Photos.
Call logs.
Proof of everything.
I walked down the hallway.
To Noah's room.
He was still asleep.
I picked up his bear.
Squeezed it gently.
I could feel the phone inside.
Safe.
Hidden.
My ace in the hole.
I kissed Noah's forehead.
May you like
"Don't worry, baby," I whispered.
"Mommy's going to fix everything."
