Chapter 6
We moved Lily before sunrise.
Naomi arranged a safe apartment under another name.
Only four people knew the address.
Helen stayed with Lily while Robert, Claire, and I went to court.
Before I left, Lily grabbed my hand.
“Will Daddy be there?”
“Yes.”
“Is he angry at me?”
“No.”
It was a lie, but she needed it.
“Daddy said families keep secrets.”
I knelt in front of her.
“Healthy families don’t ask children to hide things that make them afraid.”
“Are we still a family?”
“You and I will always be a family.”
“What about Grandpa?”
I looked toward Robert.
He stood near the door, waiting for my answer.
“We’re still figuring that out.”
The courtroom was smaller than I expected.
Ryan sat beside his attorney wearing a dark suit.
There was a small bandage near his eyebrow.
He looked calm.
Respectable.
Wounded.
Diane sat behind him.
She wore pearls and held a handkerchief.
When I entered, she shook her head as if I had disappointed her.
Ryan watched me take my seat.
Then he mouthed two words.
Bad choice.
The hearing began.
Ryan’s attorney described him as a loving father attacked by his own father’s employees.
She described me as emotionally unstable.
She submitted prescription records and old messages I had sent Ryan during panic attacks.
I can’t breathe.
I feel like I’m dying.
Please come home.
She read each message aloud.
Ryan kept his eyes down.
He looked like a husband ashamed to reveal his wife’s private suffering.
Then he testified.
“I love Emily. I don’t want to punish her.”
My hands curled beneath the table.
“She became upset over dinner,” he continued. “She threw a glass. I tried to calm her down.”
“Did you strike her?”
“No.”
“Did you force her toward the sink?”
“No.”
“How was she injured?”
“She fell while pulling away from me.”
His attorney approached the judge.
“Did your daughter witness this?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, Emily told Lily to call my father.”
I nearly stood.
Naomi placed one hand on my arm.
Ryan continued.
“My father has hated me for years. He arrived with armed men and attacked me.”
Robert made a sound behind us.
The judge warned him to remain silent.
Then Diane testified.
She cried before the first question.
“I love my son and granddaughter.”
She said she had watched my mental health decline.
She claimed I forgot to pick Lily up from school.
That happened once because Ryan had changed the schedule without telling me.
She claimed I stayed in bed for days.
That happened when I had the flu.
She claimed Lily had told her she was afraid of me.
That had never happened.
Naomi cross-examined her.
“Mrs. Carter, did you rent unit 317 at Evergreen Self Storage?”
“No.”
“Have you ever used the name D. Reynolds?”
“No.”
“Did you help obtain a passport for your granddaughter under the name Lily Reynolds?”
Diane pressed the handkerchief to her mouth.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
Naomi showed her the passport.
Diane stared at it.
“That woman made it.”
She pointed at Claire.
Every face turned.
Claire sat in the back row.
Ryan looked at her.
For the first time, his performance cracked.
His chair moved backward.
“You.”
Claire stood.
Diane’s attorney objected.
The judge ordered everyone to sit.
Naomi asked one final question.
“Why are you afraid of Claire Morgan?”
“I’m not.”
“Then why did you just accuse her of a crime before I mentioned her name?”
Diane froze.
She had trapped herself.
But Ryan’s attorney recovered quickly.
She argued that the passport had not been authenticated.
She called Claire a bitter former fiancée.
She said Robert had manipulated everyone because he wanted to replace Ryan at the company.
Then she produced a document signed by Robert.
It stated that he had paid Claire two hundred thousand dollars in exchange for silence regarding false accusations against Ryan.
I looked at Robert.
“Did you sign that?”
He whispered, “Yes.”
Naomi closed her eyes for one second.
She had asked for complete honesty.
Robert had still hidden something.
The judge ordered a private interview with Lily before making a decision.
Helen brought her through a side entrance.
I hugged her.
“You only have to tell the truth.”
“What if Daddy gets mad?”
“He can’t hurt you here.”
The judge spoke to Lily in chambers with a child advocate present.
The interview lasted twenty minutes.
When Lily returned, she wouldn’t look at Ryan.
He smiled at her.
She hid behind Helen.
The judge gave his ruling.
Lily would remain temporarily with me.
Ryan was granted no direct contact until an investigation was completed.
Diane was also prohibited from contacting Lily.
Relief rushed through me.
Then the judge looked at Robert.
“Mr. Carter, your history of concealing relevant evidence makes this court unwilling to approve your residence as a safe placement.”
Robert lowered his head.
Lily and I could not stay with him.
That didn’t matter.
We had the apartment.
Outside the courtroom, reporters waited.
Someone had leaked the hearing.
Questions surrounded us.
“Emily, did you attack your husband?”
“Is Robert Carter hiding corporate theft?”
“Claire, where have you been for ten years?”
Naomi pushed us toward the car.
Ryan came through another exit.
He stopped beside me.
“You think you won?”
I stepped back.
A court officer moved between us.
Ryan smiled.
“My father will go to prison. Claire will be called a liar. And you will come home because you have nowhere else to go.”
“I will never come home.”
His smile faded.
“You don’t know where home is anymore.”
We drove directly to the safe apartment.
The front door was locked.
There were no signs of forced entry.
But when I stepped inside, Helen wasn’t there.
Neither was Lily.
Her coat lay on the floor.
One peppermint candy rested beside it.
I called Helen.
Her phone rang from the kitchen counter.
Naomi searched the rooms.
Empty.
Then we saw the message written on the living-room mirror.
No police.
Bring Robert’s trust documents to the lake house.
Below it were three words that stopped my heart.
May you like
Mommy, I’m sorry.
Lily had written them herself.
