Chapter 5 - Playing the Victim
The phone slipped from my sweaty fingers and clattered onto the floor.
David had intercepted Lucas before he could ever reach the police station.
I was completely alone again, surrounded by monsters who shared my last name.
I realized that fighting them directly in my vulnerable state was a guaranteed death sentence.
I needed to change my entire strategy if I wanted to save my baby.
I spent the next three days recovering in the hospital under the watchful eyes of Beatrice's hired guards.
When the doctor finally cleared me for discharge, David walked into the room with a wheelchair.
I forced myself to look at him with a perfectly crafted expression of defeat.
"I am sorry for causing so much trouble," I lied softly.
David looked surprised by my sudden submission, but his ego quickly accepted it.
"I am glad you have finally come to your senses, Maya," he replied.
He wheeled me out of the hospital and drove us back to their massive family estate.
I spent the first week acting entirely compliant, never raising my voice or asking questions.
I let Beatrice dictate my meals, my schedule, and my medical care.
They slowly began to believe that they had completely broken my spirit.
The hired guards were dismissed, and the house fell back into a false sense of security.
I waited until the early hours of Tuesday morning when the entire house was fast asleep.
I strapped on my heavy knee brace and quietly limped out of my bedroom.
I crept down the dark hallway and slipped into David's private home office.
The heavy oak door clicked shut behind me, plunging me into total darkness.
I turned on my small penlight and booted up his desktop computer.
I knew his password was his mother's birthday, a pathetic detail that now served my purpose.
I navigated through his hidden folders, searching for anything to use against them.
I found the loan documents, the offshore transfers, and emails detailing the gambling debts.
I copied everything onto a small flash drive I had stolen from the kitchen desk.
As I opened the final folder, my heart stopped completely in my chest.
It was a life insurance policy taken out on my life exactly one day before the car incident.
The payout was for three million dollars in the event of an accidental death.
But the primary beneficiary listed on the document was not my husband.
The sole beneficiary was Beatrice, who had forged my signature perfectly.
She had planned to use my death to pay off David's debts and enrich herself.
I pulled the flash drive from the computer and turned to leave the office.
The lights in the room suddenly flicked on, blinding me momentarily.
May you like
Beatrice was sitting in the high-backed leather chair in the corner of the room.
"Did you really think I wouldn't hear you dragging that metal brace across my hardwood floors?" she smiled.
