Chapter 1 - The Audio Evidence
The police officer stepped into the hospital room with his hand resting cautiously on his duty belt.
My husband, David, immediately put on his best performance for the authorities.
He raised his hands in mock surrender and told the officer that I was hysterical from losing the baby.
Agnes, my mother-in-law, started fake crying in the hallway to gain sympathy.
She told the other officer that I had slipped on the wet grass because I was inherently clumsy.
The doctor standing near my hospital bed looked conflicted and unsure of who to believe.
I refused to let them control the narrative of my abuse for another second.
I reached beneath my thin hospital blanket and pressed play on the cracked cell phone I had hidden.
The entire hospital corridor went dead silent as David’s recorded voice echoed clearly through the speaker.
“All you make is worthless daughters, you’re a broken wife,” the recording blared loudly.
The sickening sound of the leather strap hitting my pregnant belly made the lead officer flinch.
Agnes’s recorded voice followed, clearly instructing him to tie the knot tighter around the porch pillar.
David’s face completely drained of all color as his lies fell apart.
The officer immediately unclipped his handcuffs and ordered David to turn around and place his hands behind his back.
Agnes shrieked and tried to run toward the exit, but the second officer grabbed her arm firmly.
I closed my eyes and finally let out a breath I felt like I had been holding for years.
But just as the metal cuffs clicked around David’s wrists, he leaned his head back into the room.
He looked right at me with a terrifyingly calm and evil smile.
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“You can lock me up, Maya, but my brother picked up your daughters from school an hour ago,” he whispered.
“If I don’t call him by midnight, you will never see your little girls again.”
