Chapter 4
That night, Ryan showed up at Mia’s house.
It was almost eleven. Noah was asleep in the back bedroom, and Mia was in the living room watching a movie when we heard the knock. Mia muted the TV, and we both looked at the door.
“Who is it?” Mia mouthed.
I walked to the window, pulled back the curtain a fraction, and felt my jaw tighten.
Ryan was standing on the porch, leaning against the railing. He was holding a half-empty bottle of whiskey, his shirt unbuttoned, his hair a mess. He looked like he hadn’t slept in three days.
“Great,” I said. “Just what I need.”
“Want me to get the bat?” Mia said, only half-joking. She kept a baseball bat by the front door “for emergencies.”
I shook my head.
“Let me talk to him. If he tries anything, yell.”
I unlocked the door, opened it just enough to stick my head out, and crossed my arms.
“What do you want, Ryan?”
He looked up at me, his eyes bloodshot. He took a step toward the door, and I smelled the whiskey on his breath from three feet away.
“Clara,” he slurred. “Baby, please. Let me in. I need to talk to you.”
“You’re drunk,” I said. “Go home.”
“I don’t have a home,” he said, and his voice cracked. “Linda kicked me out. Told me I was a disappointment, that if I didn’t ‘fix this’ and get custody of Noah, she’d cut me off. No money, no house, no job. She owns the company I work for, you know that. She can fire me with one phone call.”
I stared at him. For a second, I almost felt bad for him. Almost. Then I remembered him standing in that backyard, telling me to apologize to the woman who’d locked our son in a cage.
“That’s not my problem,” I said. “You made your choice. You chose her over Noah. Over me.”
“I know,” he cried. He sank down onto the top step, put his head in his hands, and sobbed. Loud, ugly sobs that shook his whole body. “I know I’m a coward. I know I failed you. Failed Noah. But she’s been controlling me my whole life, Clara. You don’t know what it was like growing up with her. If I got a B on a test, she’d lock me in my room for two days with no food. If I talked back, she’d hit me with a belt until I couldn’t sit down. She told me no one would ever love me but her. That I was nothing without her.”
He looked up at me, his face streaked with tears.
“When Noah was born, I promised myself I’d never be like her. I promised I’d protect my kid. But when she started yelling… when she threatened to take everything… I just froze. I reverted back to being that scared little kid who’d do anything to make her stop yelling. I’m so sorry, Clara. I’m so, so sorry.”
I stood in the doorway, watching him cry, and felt a strange mix of anger and pity. I’d known Linda was hard on Ryan, but I’d never imagined it was that bad. He’d never told me any of this. Never let me see how broken he really was.
“Ryan,” I said, softer this time. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Because I was ashamed,” he whispered. “Ashamed that I let her treat me that way. Ashamed that I was too scared to stand up to her. I thought if I just did what she said, she’d leave us alone. But she never does. She just keeps taking more and more until there’s nothing left.”
His phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, looked at the screen, and flinched like it burned him.
“It’s her,” he said.
“Answer it,” I said.
He stared at me, then slowly pressed the answer button and put it on speaker.
Linda’s voice came through loud and sharp, even over the phone.
“Where are you, Ryan? I told you to get that boy and bring him home. Did you talk to Clara?”
Ryan looked up at me. I nodded.
“I’m not bringing Noah to you, Mom,” he said. His voice was shaky, but it was steady enough. “What you did was wrong. Locking him in that cage… you could have killed him.”
Linda laughed, cold and cruel.
“Oh, please. He was fine. He just needed a lesson. Now listen to me, you ungrateful little boy. You either get me that child by tomorrow morning, or you’re fired. You’re cut off. No more house, no more cars, no more money. You’ll be living on the street. And I’ll make sure everyone in this town knows what a disappointment you are. That you chose a whore over your own mother.”
My blood boiled. I stepped closer to the phone.
“Go ahead, Linda,” I said. “Tell everyone. Tell them how you locked a seven-year-old in a dog kennel. Tell them how you blackmailed your own daughter into helping you. Tell them how you abused your own son for forty years. I have the video. I have Sarah’s testimony. I have Mark’s. I have all the emails and text messages proving you planned to frame me and take Noah. Do your worst. Because when this is over, you’re going to be the one in jail. And everyone in this town is going to know exactly what you are.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then Linda spoke, her voice so low and dangerous it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“You think you can win against me, Clara? You think a little girl with no money and no connections can beat me? I’ve been playing this game longer than you’ve been alive. I will destroy you. I will take your son. I will make you regret the day you ever married my son. Mark my words.”
She hung up.
Ryan dropped the phone onto the porch. He was shaking all over, his face white as a sheet.
“See?” he whispered. “See what she’s like? She never loses. Never.”
I looked down at him. At the broken man on my best friend’s porch, the man who’d failed my son but was finally starting to see the truth.
“She’s going to lose this time,” I said. “Because I’m not scared of her. And neither are you. Not anymore.”
He looked up at me, hope flickering in his eyes for the first time.
“What do I do?” he said.
“First,” I said. “You sober up. Tomorrow, you go to the police. You tell them everything Linda did to you growing up. Everything she’s doing now. You testify against her. You sign over full custody of Noah to me—no fight, no arguments. You help us take her down.”
I paused, looking him dead in the eye.
“And if you ever choose her over our son again? I will make sure you never see him again. Do you understand me?”
Ryan nodded so fast his head bobbled.
“I understand,” he said. “I’ll do it. Whatever you want. I’ll do it.”
He stood up, swaying a little, and started to walk toward his car.
“Ryan,” I called after him.
He turned around.
“Get a hotel room tonight,” I said. “Don’t go back to her house. She’s dangerous. And Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
“Mean it this time.”
He gave me a small, broken nod, got in his car, and drove away.
Mia came up behind me, her hand on my shoulder.
“You trust him?” she said.
I watched his taillights disappear down the street.
“Not with my son,” I said. “But I trust that he’s scared enough of Linda to help us take her down. And right now? That’s all I need.”
I closed the door, locked it, and went to check on Noah. He was still asleep, his stuffed rabbit tucked under his arm, a small smile on his face.
I kissed his forehead.
“Almost over, baby,” I whispered. “Almost over.”
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But I knew Linda wasn’t bluffing. She’d said she’d destroy me, and women like her always kept their promises.
The worst was yet to come.
