Chapter 18 - The Mother's Confession
The automated voice of the federal penitentiary warned me that the call was being recorded. I didn't care.
"Who is this?" my mother's voice rasped through the receiver. She sounded older, hollowed out by just a few days behind bars.
"It's Julia," I said coldly.
There was a sharp intake of breath. "I saw the news. They say you killed Henderson. I know you didn't do it, Julia. You don't have the stomach for it."
"Tell me about Dad," I demanded, ignoring her backhanded compliment. "Tell me how he got involved with David."
My mother let out a dry, bitter laugh. "Your father was drowning in debt long before my gambling became a problem. He despised you because your grandfather left you the colonial estate instead of him. When David approached him a year ago offering to wipe his debts clean in exchange for setting you up, your father didn't even hesitate."
"Why didn't you tell me this when we were trapped in the basement?" I asked, my voice trembling with suppressed rage.
"Because David paid my debts, too," she confessed smoothly. "He funded Brent's fake business loans. He bankrolled the entire destruction of your life, Julia. He manipulated all of us just to get the kids back, to punish you for leaving him."
I closed my eyes, the sheer magnitude of the betrayal washing over me. My entire family had been bought and paid for by a narcissistic monster.
"He's never going to stop, Julia," my mother whispered, a sudden hint of genuine fear in her tone. "David doesn't lose. If you are hiding, he will find you. You should just run, leave the country."
"No," I said firmly, staring out into the snow-covered forest. "I'm done running."
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I hung up the phone and walked back into the cabin. Emma and Noah were awake, huddled by the fire. I looked at their innocent faces, and a cold, calculating calm settled over my mind.
I was going to build a trap of my own.
