Chapter 2 - The PhoneRyan demanded the phone.
Emily refused.
Linda called her dramatic.
Ryan called her unstable.
But Emily had stopped listening.
She opened the messages.
Three weeks earlier:
She needs to look unstable in front of Noah.
Ryan's response:
I'm working on it.
Then:
Get her yelling. Video only the end.
Emily's hands began shaking.
“You've been setting me up.”
Ryan's expression hardened.
“It isn't what you think.”
“What exactly am I supposed to think?”
Noah grabbed Emily's shirt.
“Mom, can we leave?”
That question destroyed something inside her.
Her son wasn't asking his father whether they could leave.
He was asking her to protect him.
Emily called 911.
Ryan stared at her.
“You're actually calling the police on me?”
“You hit me.”
“Mom was being attacked.”
“You didn't see what happened.”
Linda began edging toward the back door.
Emily pointed.
“Don't leave.”
The police arrived within minutes.
Officer Daniels studied Emily's face.
Then her wrist.
Then Noah.
“Is there video?”
Emily nodded.
The kitchen recording played.
Linda grabbing Noah.
Linda hitting Emily.
Ryan entering.
Ryan hitting Emily.
Silence filled the room.
Officer Daniels looked at Ryan.
Then at Linda.
Then back at Emily.
“Do you want to press charges?”
Emily looked at her husband.
For eleven years, Ryan's favorite phrase had been:
Think carefully.
She finally understood what it meant.
Obey me.
She looked at Officer Daniels.
“Yes.”
Then she handed over the old phone.
The newest evidence wasn't the slap.
It was a photograph of a legal document.
PETITION FOR EMERGENCY TEMPORARY CUSTODY.
Her name was underneath.
The hearing was scheduled for Monday morning.
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Ryan had planned to take Noah.
And Emily had less than eighteen hours to stop him.
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