Chapter 7
Sarah came back two hours later.
She didn’t say anything at first.
Just poured herself a glass of water.
Drank it in one go.
“Well?” I said.
She sat down across from me.
“Ryan is scared. Really scared. He’s looking at ten years minimum for what he did. Conspiracy charges. Child abuse. He’s not going to see his kids graduate high school.”
“Did he talk?”
Sarah nodded.
“He talked. Oh, he talked.”
She pulled out her phone.
Pressed play.
Ryan’s voice filled the room.
“Jake told me the life insurance was the only way out. Said if Claire was gone, or if she lost custody, we’d have the money. We could pay off his debts. Start over. He said Margaret’s plan would work. That no one would ever know.”
Another voice—Sarah’s—asked, “Did you know Jake was just using you?”
Ryan laughed.
It was a bitter sound.
“Of course I knew. But what choice did I have? Margaret was on my case every day. Said I was weak. Said Claire was turning the kids against me. Jake kept threatening to call in the money I owed him. I borrowed fifty grand from him last year. Bad investments. He said if I didn’t help him, he’d break my legs.”
“Break your legs?”
“He’s not the golden boy everyone thinks he is. Jake has connections. Bad ones. The kind that collect debts with baseball bats.”
I stared at the phone.
Ryan had been scared too.
Scared of his own brother.
It didn’t excuse what he’d done.
Not even close.
But it explained it.
“Is there more?” I asked.
“More,” Sarah said. She pressed another button.
Ryan’s voice again.
“Jake has something else. On Claire. Something from before we were married.”
“What?” Sarah’s voice.
“I don’t know exactly. He said it was from Ohio. Something about an accident. Said if Claire tried to fight the custody, he’d leak it. Ruin her. Make sure she never worked again.”
My blood ran cold.
Ohio.
An accident.
I knew exactly what he was talking about.
Sarah looked at me.
“Claire? What is he talking about?”
I closed my eyes.
Took a deep breath.
“I was in a car accident. Senior year of high school. My best friend was driving. We were coming home from a party. She’d been drinking. We hit a tree. She… she didn’t make it.”
I opened my eyes.
Tears were streaming down my face.
“I told the police I was driving. Because her parents couldn’t handle losing their daughter and knowing she’d been drinking and driving. I took the blame. Got probation. Community service. It’s on my record, but it’s sealed because I was a minor.”
Sarah was quiet.
“Jake found out,” she said.
“He must have. When we first started dating, I told Ryan. I trusted him. I never thought he’d use it against me.”
Sarah stood up.
Started pacing again.
“Jake is going to bring this up tomorrow. He’s going to make it sound like you have a history of reckless behavior. Of lying to the police. Of instability.”
“It was ten years ago,” I said. “I was seventeen. I was grieving.”
“Judges care about history, Claire. Even old history. Especially when it’s been hidden.”
She stopped pacing.
“But we have something better. Ryan’s testimony. If he testifies against Jake and Margaret, tells the judge everything about the conspiracy, the life insurance, the blackmail…”
“Will he do it?” I asked.
Sarah nodded.
“He will. I made him a deal. He testifies truthfully, gives us everything on Jake, and I’ll argue for a reduced sentence. Mention his cooperation. It won’t get him out of jail, but it might get him out in five years instead of ten.”
“Five years,” I whispered.
Emma would be twelve.
Lucas would be five.
They’d grow up without a father.
But they’d be safe.
That was the trade-off.
“Okay,” I said. “Do it.”
Sarah made some calls.
Arranged for Ryan to be available to testify tomorrow.
Then she turned to me.
“Get some sleep, Claire. Tomorrow is going to be the longest day of your life.”
But I couldn’t sleep.
I sat in Sarah’s office while Emma slept on the couch.
Thought about Ohio.
About my friend.
About the mistake I’d made when I was seventeen.
And how it was going to be used against me now.
I thought about Ryan.
How we’d met in college.
How he’d seemed so kind. So safe.
How I’d never seen the darkness in him.
Or the darkness in his family.
And I thought about Jake.
Sitting in his expensive office.
Planning to destroy me for money.
He thought he had me cornered.
He thought he knew all my secrets.
But he didn’t know everything.
He didn’t know how strong a mother could be when her children were on the line.
May you like
He didn’t know what I was capable of.
Tomorrow in that courtroom, I was going to show him.
