Chapter 8
Derek made bail again.
That was the first time I understood why people stop believing in systems.
He hurt me.
Threatened me.
Violated the order.
Broke into my home.
And still walked out under conditions and a tracking bracelet.
Olivia saw my face.
“Bail is not innocence.”
“It feels like permission.”
“I know.”
I hated that she knew.
The court added stricter conditions.
No contact with me, directly or indirectly.
No access to my apartment.
No weapons.
No financial documents.
No insurance systems connected to me.
Derek smiled through the hearing like a misunderstood husband.
Then Detective Collins played the apartment footage.
The smile faded.
Good.
Afterward, a woman approached me in the courthouse bathroom.
She was maybe fifty.
Tired eyes.
Perfect lipstick.
“Are you Skylar?”
I stiffened.
“Yes.”
“My name is Elise.”
I waited.
She pulled a folded paper from her purse.
“I dated Derek twelve years ago.”
My heart started pounding.
“He said you were dead too?”
She gave a bitter smile.
“No. He told people I stole from him and disappeared. I lost my job because of it.”
She handed me the paper.
A bank complaint.
A forged withdrawal.
Her signature.
Derek’s witness statement.
Patricia’s supporting letter.
I gripped the sink.
“There are more?”
“I think so.”
Elise looked at my burns.
“I saw your photo online. I knew that look.”
“What look?”
“The moment a woman realizes charming was never kind.”
I cried in the courthouse bathroom with a stranger holding my hand.
Then I took her to Olivia.
By evening, Elise gave a statement.
By morning, two more women contacted Maya.
Derek’s history grew.
Not in rumors.
In records.
Forged signatures.
False reports.
Insurance policies.
Emotional traps.
Financial theft.
Suzanne appeared in three cases.
Patricia in two.
I looked at the growing file and finally understood.
May you like
I had not married into a difficult family.
I had married into an operation.
