Chapter 12 - The Ex-Husband's Shadow
I gripped the edge of the bathroom sink, my knuckles turning as white as the porcelain. I told David he was out of his mind if he thought I would ever let him near my children.
David's voice lost its playful edge, turning sharp and lethal. He informed me that my father was currently resting in a private, highly secure psychiatric facility under David's corporate umbrella, utterly unreachable. David had orchestrated the entire extraction of my mother, using his own mercenaries.
"The three million dollars your father sent you?" David sneered. "That was my money, Julia. A temporary down payment to lull you into a false sense of security. To make you buy that nice, expensive house where I can easily find you."
He then laid out his trap with terrifying precision. The blood on the security camera belonged to Mr. Henderson. David had his men deliver it to my doorstep knowing my fingerprints would be all over it the second I opened the box.
"In exactly ten minutes, an anonymous tip is going to direct the local homicide detectives to your new gated community," David said calmly. "They are going to find the murder weapon in your house. The police already think you have a history of violent family disputes thanks to your mother's arrest. You will go to prison for murder, and as their only living parent not behind bars, I will get full, uncontested custody of Emma and Noah."
He gave me one alternative. I could pack my children into the car right now, drive to his corporate headquarters, and sign over full parental rights. If I did, he promised the camera would disappear, and I would be allowed a supervised visit once a year.
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I didn't answer. I hung up the phone and threw it into the toilet, flushing it immediately so he couldn't track my location.
I had less than ten minutes before the police arrived to destroy my family forever.
