Chapter 10
I gripped the phone.
“Who?”
Jenna hesitated.
“I can’t do this.”
“Please.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than I did a week ago.”
Nora touched my arm.
I lowered my voice.
“Jenna, I’m not asking you to risk yourself for me. But if Ryan hurt someone because they tried to expose him, the police need to know.”
Silence.
Then Jenna whispered, “His former accountant.”
“What was his name?”
“Peter Lawson.”
Martin knew the name immediately.
Peter had worked for Ryan’s firm three years earlier.
His employment ended suddenly.
According to public records, Peter had been seriously injured after falling down a staircase in a parking garage.
No criminal charges were filed.
My chest tightened.
“Are you saying Ryan pushed him?”
“I didn’t see it.”
“What do you know?”
“Peter found fake invoices.”
The same kind Ryan had used to move my money.
“He confronted Ryan.”
“When?”
“Two days before the fall.”
I looked at Nora.
“Did Ryan threaten Peter?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear it?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Jenna’s voice became barely audible.
“He said Peter should learn what happens when people step into his business.”
My skin turned cold.
“Did you tell police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Ryan told me Peter had been drinking and fell.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“I saw Ryan’s jacket the next morning.”
“What about it?”
“There was concrete dust on the sleeve.”
Nora immediately took over.
“Jenna, I’m an attorney representing Emily. We need you to speak with law enforcement. You should have your own attorney present.”
“No.”
“You may have information about a serious crime.”
“I said no.”
“Then let me ask one question. Do you still have anything Ryan sent you?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Emails.”
My heart jumped.
“And a voicemail.”
“What voicemail?”
“The one where he threatened me after I refused to notarize Emily’s signature.”
The room went still.
Nora spoke carefully.
“Jenna, preserve everything. Do not forward, delete, edit, or alter it. I can help connect your attorney with investigators.”
“I need time.”
Then she ended the call.
I wanted to call again.
Nora stopped me.
“Don’t push.”
“What if she disappears?”
“She answered. That matters.”
“What if Ryan knows we found her?”
Nora looked at Dad.
“We need to assume he might.”
That night, security around Dad’s house increased.
I hated it.
Not because I did not appreciate being protected.
Because I hated that Ryan still controlled the shape of our lives.
Lily could not go into the yard without someone nearby.
I checked windows twice.
Then three times.
At dinner, Lily barely ate.
“Can I go back to school tomorrow?”
I looked at Dad.
He waited for my answer.
“Yes.”
Lily brightened slightly.
“Really?”
“Yes. But Thomas will take us.”
“Do I have to have a security person forever?”
“No.”
“When will everything be normal?”
I did not know how to answer.
So I told her the truth.
“I don’t know exactly.”
She looked disappointed.
“But I promise we’re building a new normal.”
“What does that mean?”
“One where nobody gets to scare us into doing what they want.”
She thought about that.
Then she nodded.
The next morning, I walked Lily into school myself.
Every parent in the lobby seemed to know something had happened.
Some avoided my eyes.
One woman hugged me without asking questions.
That almost made me cry.
By afternoon, Ryan was back in court.
The judge reviewed the attempted pickup.
His attorney insisted Ryan believed he remained authorized to arrange transportation.
Nora produced the signed order showing otherwise.
Then the judge reviewed Harris’s statement.
Ryan sat completely still.
His bond conditions in the criminal case were tightened.
The family court also suspended all contact with Lily until further review.
When the judge announced it, Ryan looked at me.
For one second, the mask slipped.
Pure hatred.
Then it disappeared.
Outside, Diane approached again.
This time she stopped several feet away.
“I need to talk to you.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“Nora told you not to contact me.”
“I’m not Ryan.”
“No. But you keep defending him.”
Diane glanced around.
Then her voice lowered.
“You think I don’t know my son has problems?”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
She looked suddenly older.
“When Ryan was seventeen, something happened with his brother.”
“Mark?”
She nodded.
I had met Mark only a handful of times.
He lived in Colorado and barely spoke to Ryan.
“What happened?”
Diane swallowed.
“They fought.”
“About what?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remember.”
She looked away.
“Ryan hurt him.”
“How badly?”
Diane did not answer.
My stomach tightened.
“How badly, Diane?”
“He broke Mark’s jaw.”
I stared.
“Ryan told me Mark crashed a motorcycle.”
“That was the story we told people.”
My skin went cold.
“You lied.”
“We were protecting our family.”
“From what?”
“Scandal.”
I almost laughed.
“You protected Ryan from consequences.”
“He was seventeen.”
“And what happened afterward?”
“Counseling.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Anything?”
“No.”
I stepped back.
Diane’s eyes filled.
“You don’t understand what his father was like.”
“Then tell me.”
She shook her head.
“Frank was worse.”
Ryan’s father had died before Lily was born.
Ryan described him as strict but loving.
Diane now told a different story.
“He controlled everything,” she whispered. “Money. Friends. Where I went.”
I stared at her.
“And you watched Ryan become him.”
“I thought Ryan was different.”
“No.”
The word came out harder than I expected.
“You hoped he was different.”
She flinched.
I continued.
“And whenever he proved he wasn’t, you helped hide it.”
Tears slipped down her face.
“I love my son.”
“I love Lily.”
Diane looked at me.
“That’s why I’m telling you.”
“Why now?”
She glanced toward the courthouse doors.
“Because Mark called me last night.”
My heart skipped.
“What did he say?”
“He saw Ryan on television entering court.”
“And?”
“He told me I had one chance to stop lying.”
I stared at her.
“Is Mark willing to talk?”
“I don’t know.”
Then a voice behind us said, “Yes.”
I turned.
A tall man stood several yards away holding a travel bag.
I recognized him immediately.
Ryan’s brother.
Mark.
He looked at Diane.
May you like
Then at me.
“I’m done protecting him.”
