Chapter 32
Lacey was found because she used my credit card.
My card.
At a luxury hotel in Atlanta.
The stupidity felt almost insulting.
Police arrested her in the lobby wearing sunglasses and a stolen bracelet from my jewelry box.
She cried immediately.
She claimed Damon abused her.
She claimed Selene forced her.
She claimed she had tried to help me by “exposing the truth.”
Then prosecutors showed her the threatening text about my baby.
Lacey stopped crying.
That became her pattern.
Tears until evidence.
Silence after.
Selene was smarter.
She refused interviews.
Martin was not.
He talked for a deal within three days.
My uncle had aged badly.
Alcohol.
Paranoia.
Bitterness.
He admitted stealing from the company.
Admitted my mother confronted him.
Admitted he shoved her during a fight.
But he insisted Selene was the one who delayed medical help.
“She wanted leverage,” he said. “Rose was alive when we left.”
Rose.
My mother.
Hearing her name in his mouth made me physically ill.
The prosecutor asked, “Why did Richard believe she died instantly?”
Martin looked at the table.
“Because I told him.”
My father heard the recording later.
He did not speak for a long time.
Then he said, “I let a liar define my grief.”
I sat beside Rose’s crib.
We had finally brought her home.
She slept in the carved bassinet.
Small breaths.
Tiny fists.
My whole future.
“What happens now?” I asked.
Evelyn answered.
“Trials. Pleas. Custody termination. Divorce. Asset protection.”
“So everything.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Rose.
Damon had not seen her.
He would not.
Not if I could help it.
That night, I received one last direct message from Damon before his communications were fully cut.
You think your father can protect you forever?
I took a photo of Rose sleeping.
Not to send him.
To remind myself.
Protection was not forever.
May you like
Protection was daily.
And I was ready for every day.
