Chapter 10
Kendra called again that evening.
This time, she was calmer.
Or trying to be.
“I saw the hearing,” she said.
“So did everyone.”
“I didn’t laugh because he hit you.”
I stayed silent.
She swallowed.
“I laughed because I was scared. Because if I looked shocked, he would turn on me.”
The answer was ugly.
Human.
Not forgiveness.
But context.
“Are you safe?” I asked.
“For now.”
“Pregnancy?”
She inhaled shakily.
“Yes.”
“Victor’s?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
Her silence answered.
There might be another man.
Another door.
Another calculation.
“I need protection,” she whispered.
“You need a lawyer.”
“I need money.”
There she was.
Still Kendra.
Still measuring the room.
I almost ended the call.
Then she said, “I have records.”
“What records?”
“Victor didn’t start stealing when he met me. He was already doing it. Eleanor helped him. She introduced him to Preston. She told him which vendors were weak.”
My body went still.
“Can you prove that?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“Because I thought I’d be rich before anyone found out.”
At least she did not insult me with innocence.
I looked at my father across the room.
He nodded once.
Not approval.
Permission to choose.
“Give the records to Russell,” I said.
“And in return?”
“You get protection if your evidence is real. Legal protection, not silence.”
“What about charges?”
“That depends on what you did.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You sound just like him.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
By morning, Kendra’s records arrived.
Emails.
Voice notes.
Photos of invoices.
Messages from Eleanor.
One message from Victor made my hands go cold.
Olivia is harmless. Once I divorce her, we’ll pin the missing funds on her household accounts.
Harmless.
That word hurt more than gray little thing.
Because harmless meant he had not only despised me.
He had planned to use my silence as his escape.
Russell read the message and said, “We move criminal referral ahead.”
My father looked at me.
May you like
I nodded.
This time, I did not hesitate.
