Chapter 6 - The Exit Strategy
Drew instantly released my wrist, stepping back as if he had been burned.
"Josie, sweetie," Drew stammered, his voice instantly switching back into a high-pitched, fake gentle tone. "Daddy was just... we were just having an adult conversation. Go back upstairs to your room—"
"No!" Josie yelled, her voice echoing off the kitchen walls. It was the first time I had ever heard her scream. "You told me to lie! You told me in the car that I misheard you, but I didn't! You gave me the monitor! You told me Sarah was gonna leave if I didn't help!"
Drew’s face went purple with humiliation and rage. "Josie! That is enough! Go to your room right now!"
"She isn't going anywhere," I said firmly, stepping between Drew and Josie, pulling the trembling girl behind my back.
I reached into my pocket, grabbed my car keys, and grabbed my phone.
"What are you doing?" Drew demanded, his eyes darting frantically between me and the front door. "Sarah, don't you dare step out of this house with my children!"
"I am taking my son and your daughter to my sister's house," I said calmly. "If you try to block the doorway or touch either of us, I will call 911 immediately and report domestic assault in front of a minor. You already put your hands on me, Drew. Do you really want an active police record attached to your corporate background checks by seven A.M. tomorrow?"
Drew locked eyes with me. He looked at my phone, already displaying the 911 keypad. He looked at Josie weeping behind my sweater.
He stepped back, his chest heaving, his fists clenched at his sides. "You leave this house, Sarah, and you are done. I will cut off every credit card. I will change the locks. You won't get a single penny!"
"Keep the house, Drew," I said, picking up Noah’s car seat from the hallway nook. "We're taking everything that actually matters."
Ten minutes later, my SUV was speeding down the highway under the dark night sky. In the back seat, Noah was sound asleep in his car seat, and Josie was wrapped in a plush blanket, her small hand resting in mine across the center console.
"Sarah?" Josie asked softly, her voice barely audible over the hum of the tires.
"Yeah, baby?"
"Are we ever going back?"
May you like
I squeezed her small fingers, looking at her through the rearview mirror with absolute certainty.
"No, Josie," I promised her. "We are never going back to that darkness again. From now on, you get to just be a nine-year-old girl. I've got you."
