Chapter 13 - The Desperate Calls
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Skylar sat on the plush bed of a high-end hotel suite in downtown Miami, a cup of chamomile tea warming her uninjured hand. Her lawyer, Cassandra, had insisted on booking the room under a corporate account to ensure Derek couldn't track her location.
Her phone, sitting on the bedside table, lit up for the twentieth time in the last hour. The caller ID flashed Derek's name.
She didn't answer. She just watched the screen glow, feeling a profound sense of peace wash over her. For six years, the sound of his ringtone had dictated her mood, causing her heart to race with anxiety about what she had done wrong. Now, it was just a pathetic, blinking light.
A new voicemail notification popped up on the screen. Skylar pressed play, putting the phone on speaker.
“Skylar, please pick up the phone,” Derek’s voice begged. He sounded breathless, frantic. “The police are here. They’re watching me pack my suitcases. This is insane! You can’t just throw me out on the street! I’m sorry about the coffee, okay? I lost my temper. But you’re ruining my life over an accident! Call the cops off. Please.”
The message ended. Skylar took a sip of her tea.
He hadn't apologized for hurting her. He had apologized because he was suffering the consequences of his actions. He was sorry that he was homeless, not that she was burned.
Ten minutes later, another voicemail arrived. The tone had shifted entirely.
“You think you’re so smart, you vindictive bitch,” Derek snarled into the receiver. “I know you stole the money from the joint account. I’m going to sue you for everything you have. You’re going to pay for humiliating me in front of the police. You hear me? You’re dead to me.”
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Skylar smiled, a slow, grim expression. She tapped a few buttons and forwarded all the voicemails directly to Cassandra Vance’s secure email portal. Every threat, every desperate plea, was just more ammunition for the upcoming divorce hearing.
Derek thought he was intimidating her, but he was only digging his own grave deeper. Skylar turned her phone on silent, pulled the thick hotel duvet up to her chin, and closed her eyes. For the first time in years, she felt entirely safe.
