Chapter 2
The room went silent.
Ryan’s face changed first.
Not anger.
Fear.
Jessica stopped smiling.
I looked down at Sophie.
“What exactly did you hear?”
Ryan stepped toward us.
“Emily, she’s seven. She probably misunderstood.”
I held up one hand.
“Don’t come any closer.”
He stopped.
Sophie clung to my shirt.
“I didn’t misunderstand.”
Her voice shook.
“I came inside and Daddy didn’t hear me. I was looking for him.”
Ryan swallowed.
“Sophie—”
“You said Mommy was making everything difficult.”
Jessica’s eyes narrowed.
Sophie pointed at her.
“And she said you promised we’d both be gone before Friday.”
My stomach tightened.
Friday was two days away.
Jessica recovered quickly.
“Oh, please. We were talking about you two going to your mother’s house.”
“My mother lives in Ohio.”
Jessica shrugged.
“Exactly.”
I stared at Ryan.
“Were you planning to send me to Ohio without telling me?”
Ryan dragged both hands over his face.
“This is getting blown completely out of proportion.”
“My daughter was slapped in her own living room by your mistress.”
“She pushed Jessica first.”
I couldn’t believe him.
Sophie couldn’t either.
Her grip loosened from my shirt.
She stared at her father as if she were looking at a stranger.
“You’re taking her side?”
Ryan looked at her.
For one second, something like shame crossed his face.
Then Jessica touched his arm.
It vanished.
“Sophie, go upstairs.”
“No.”
Ryan blinked.
My daughter had never refused him like that.
“No?”
Sophie stepped closer to me.
“I’m staying with Mommy.”
Jessica laughed softly.
“Cute.”
I turned toward her.
“You need to leave.”
“She’s not leaving,” Ryan said.
I looked at him.
“Then Sophie and I are.”
He folded his arms.
“Fine.”
That single word hurt more than I expected.
Eleven years of marriage.
A child.
A mortgage.
Christmas mornings.
Hospital rooms.
Birthday dinners.
All reduced to fine.
I picked up Sophie’s backpack.
“Get your shoes.”
Ryan frowned.
“Where are you going?”
“You just told me to leave.”
“I said fine. I didn’t say you could take Sophie.”
I froze.
Jessica smiled again.
There it was.
The real problem.
Not me leaving.
Sophie leaving.
Ryan moved toward our daughter.
“Sophie stays here.”
She immediately stepped behind me.
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Emily.”
I pulled out my phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
Jessica’s smile disappeared.
“Why?”
“Because an adult woman struck my seven-year-old daughter.”
Jessica stared at Ryan.
He reached for my phone.
I stepped back.
“Touch me and I’ll add that too.”
“Emily, stop.”
I dialed.
Jessica grabbed her purse.
“You told me this was handled.”
Ryan’s head snapped toward her.
“Jessica.”
“You said she was going to cooperate.”
I stared at them.
“Cooperate with what?”
Neither answered.
I pressed call.
Ryan’s voice dropped.
“You don’t want to do this.”
“I really do.”
His eyes darkened.
“You have no idea what you’re starting.”
The dispatcher answered.
I gave our address.
Jessica cursed under her breath.
Then she rushed toward the hallway.
I followed her with my eyes.
She wasn’t heading for the front door.
She was going toward Ryan’s office.
“Where are you going?”
She ignored me.
Ryan stepped in my path.
“Stay here.”
That was enough.
I shoved past him.
Jessica reached the office before I did.
She grabbed something from the desk.
A black folder.
I caught the edge before she could pull it away.
“What is this?”
“None of your business.”
We struggled over it.
Ryan came running.
“Let it go!”
The folder ripped.
Paper scattered across the floor.
Jessica went pale.
I bent down.
Ryan tried to grab the pages before me.
Too late.
I saw my name.
EMILY CARTER.
Under it was a property transfer form.
Our house.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
Mine.
Except I had never signed it.
I grabbed the page.
“What the hell is this?”
Ryan’s face turned gray.
Jessica moved toward the front door.
“You forged my signature?”
“No.”
I held the paper up.
“This says I transferred my ownership interest in our house to you three weeks ago.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“It was paperwork from the refinance.”
“We never refinanced.”
He said nothing.
My heart pounded.
Another page lay beneath the desk.
I grabbed it.
A bank statement.
Our joint savings account.
Balance: $2,814.
It had been nearly $96,000 six months earlier.
I looked at Ryan.
“Where is our money?”
Jessica started walking faster.
Sophie appeared behind me.
“Mommy?”
I turned.
Her cheek was still red.
That stopped everything.
I went to her immediately.
“It’s okay.”
It wasn’t.
But she didn’t need to know how bad it was yet.
Sirens sounded outside.
Ryan whispered a curse.
Jessica reached the front door.
I pointed at her.
“Don’t leave.”
She laughed nervously.
“You can’t keep me here.”
“No. But they can.”
Two officers walked onto the porch.
Jessica opened the door and nearly collided with them.
Twenty minutes later, our living room looked like a crime scene.
One officer photographed Sophie’s cheek.
Another spoke privately with me.
Ryan stood near the kitchen, furious.
Jessica kept insisting she acted in self-defense.
“She charged at me,” Jessica said.
The officer glanced at Sophie.
“She’s seven.”
“She pushed me.”
“You slapped her hard enough to leave a visible mark.”
“I reacted.”
The officer’s expression hardened.
“That’s what you’re calling it?”
Jessica looked toward Ryan.
“Do something.”
Ryan actually stepped forward.
“Officer, I witnessed the entire thing.”
I looked at him.
He continued.
“My daughter attacked Jessica. Jessica reacted instinctively.”
Sophie began to cry.
Not loudly.
That was worse.
I stared at the man I married.
“You’re lying.”
He avoided my eyes.
The officer noticed.
“So you’re saying the adult woman feared for her safety because of a seven-year-old girl?”
Ryan hesitated.
Jessica snapped, “Yes.”
The officer looked at Ryan again.
“And you agree?”
Ryan’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Jessica grabbed his arm.
“Ryan.”
He finally nodded.
“Yes.”
Something inside me broke.
But something else became stronger.
I stopped hoping he would become the man I remembered.
Maybe that man had never existed.
The officers separated Jessica from Ryan.
One of them asked whether I wanted medical attention for Sophie.
I said yes.
I also showed him the forged property document.
His eyebrows rose.
“Where did you get this?”
“His office.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“That’s private financial paperwork.”
The officer looked at him.
“She says her signature was forged.”
“It wasn’t.”
I faced him.
“Then explain when I signed it.”
Ryan’s silence gave me my answer.
The officer handed the paper back.
“This part is likely a civil matter unless there’s evidence of fraud, but keep every document you find.”
“I will.”
Jessica was eventually escorted outside.
She wasn’t put in handcuffs.
Not yet.
But the officer told her she needed to leave the property while they documented the complaint.
She looked at me as she walked past.
“This doesn’t change anything.”
I stared back.
“It changes everything.”
She leaned closer.
“You have no idea who you’re fighting.”
“Neither do you.”
For the first time, she looked uncertain.
Ryan watched her leave.
Then he turned on me.
“You humiliated her.”
I almost laughed.
“Our daughter is sitting there with an ice pack on her face.”
“She made a mistake.”
“She hit Sophie.”
“And you assaulted Jessica twice.”
My mouth went dry.
He was warning me.
Building his story.
I lowered my voice.
“You planned this.”
“What?”
“You packed my clothes. You drained our savings. You forged my signature. And now you’re trying to make me look unstable.”
“You’re paranoid.”
“No.”
I looked toward the office.
“I’m finally paying attention.”
His face changed.
Just slightly.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
I took Sophie upstairs.
We packed two bags.
Only essentials.
Clothes.
Medicine.
Her favorite stuffed rabbit.
Birth certificates.
Passports.
When I opened the small lockbox in our closet, something else was missing.
My grandmother’s diamond necklace.
The one Sophie was supposed to inherit.
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
When we came downstairs, Ryan blocked the door.
“You cannot take her.”
One of the officers was still outside.
I opened the door wider so he could see.
Ryan stepped back.
“You’re using Sophie against me.”
I leaned toward him.
“No, Ryan. I’m protecting her from you.”
His face twisted.
“You’ll regret this.”
Sophie heard him.
Her small hand tightened around mine.
I walked out anyway.
We stayed that night at my best friend Rachel’s house.
Sophie slept beside me.
I didn’t sleep at all.
At 2:13 a.m., my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photo appeared.
Sophie sleeping in Rachel’s guest room.
Taken through the window.
Below it was one message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT HER WITH RYAN.
I sat upright.
My blood turned cold.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
FRIDAY IS STILL FRIDAY.
