Chapter 4 - The Mask Slips
The silence that followed was deafening. The only sound was the hissing spray of the severed pipe.
I looked at Mark. The man I had shared a bed with for twelve years looked like a stranger hollowed out by fear.
“Four hundred thousand?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
“Claire... it was an investment,” Mark stammered, backing up a step on the stairs. “A tech startup in Austin. It went under. Dad bailed me out. He said he’d forgive the debt if... if we let him oversee Lucy’s schooling and trust setup. I didn’t know about the slippers! I swear to God, Claire, I didn’t know he’d hurt her!”
“You let him set me up,” I whispered. The puzzle pieces clicked together with brutal clarity. “The arguments he provoked. The time he called the police claiming I was yelling at Lucy in the yard. The ‘accidental’ bruises he claimed you had. He wasn’t just being an obnoxious in-law. He was building a Munchausen-by-proxy case against me.”
“He said he just wanted leverage!” Mark cried out, breaking into pathetic sobs. “He said if you were deemed unfit, the trust would stay in the Vance family name! He swore no one would get hurt!”
“Get out,” I said.
“Claire—”
“Get out of my house before I kill you myself.”
Mark looked at me, then down at Jenna. He knew there was no coming back from this. Without another word, he turned and ran up the stairs. Seconds later, the front door slammed, followed by the roar of his sedan peeling out into the icy street.
Jenna grabbed my hand. Her fingers were like ice. “Claire, we have to move fast. Dad has Judge Miller on speed dial. They play golf every Sunday. If Dad files an emergency ex-parte order before we get this USB to the district attorney, the state will take Lucy directly from that hospital bed and place her in his care.”
“Not while I’m breathing,” I said.
My phone rang again. It wasn't Arthur this time. It was the hospital.
May you like
“Mrs. Vance?” a frantic nurse said over the line. “You need to get back here immediately. Your father-in-law has arrived with two private security guards and an attorney. He’s claiming you abandoned your daughter at the facility.”
***
