Chapter 2 — The Truth Hidden in the Walls
My mother stared at the phone in my hand.
"You wouldn't."
"I already am."
She reached toward me.
I stepped back.
Two officers arrived twenty minutes later.
Anna hesitated.
She didn't want to speak.
She had spent months protecting me from the truth.
Then one officer quietly noticed bruises hidden beneath her sleeves.
"Mrs. Carter..."
"Can you tell us what happened?"
Anna looked at me.
Then slowly nodded.
"It wasn't only tonight."
She described months of intimidation.
Food thrown away because "pregnant women shouldn't get spoiled."
Laundry dumped onto the floor moments after she folded it.
Being forced to clean while exhausted.
Being told the baby would be better off without her.
Then she quietly opened her phone.
She had recorded everything.
Voice messages.
Videos.
Photographs.
She had never planned revenge.
She had only wanted proof in case no one believed her.
May you like
I looked at those recordings.
Every one felt like another failure I hadn't seen.
