Chapter 17 - DAVID’S CONFESSION
The recording device on the table captured every breath.
David stared at his cuffed hands.
“Marcus said the baby’s death would make the guardianship case easier.”
My voice remained steady.
“And what did you say?”
“I said no.”
“But you still refused the ambulance.”
“I thought I had time.”
“You heard me say I was bleeding.”
“I panicked.”
“You keep using that word.”
David looked up.
“I did love you.”
“No.”
“You loved the version of me that could be controlled.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Then why did you destroy my phone?”
“Because the plan was collapsing.”
“Exactly.”
He closed his eyes.
“I was afraid of Marcus.”
“So you handed him your wife and child.”
“I thought he would destroy my career.”
I leaned forward.
“You told me you played golf with the sheriff.”
“You told me the law belonged to you.”
“You told me I would never win.”
“Do not sit there now and pretend you were powerless.”
David’s face tightened.
“What do you want from me?”
“The server location.”
“What do I get?”
“The truth in the record.”
“That is not enough.”
“It is more than you gave me.”
He sat back.
For a moment, I saw the man who had courted me.
The charming lawyer who remembered my coffee order.
The man who cried when I told him I was pregnant.
Then I remembered the phone breaking against the wall.
Those memories belonged to the same person.
That was the hardest truth.
Abusers are not monsters every second.
If they were, nobody would stay.
David reached into his legal folder.
The guard moved closer.
He removed a hand-drawn map.
“Marcus bought an abandoned courthouse in West Virginia.”
“The archive is beneath the records room.”
Caroline studied the map through the observation window.
“Why should we trust this?”
“Because Marcus plans to erase it tomorrow.”
“How do you know?”
“He sent instructions through my attorney.”
The guard took the map.
David looked at me.
“Will you tell Grace about me?”
“Yes.”
His eyes widened.
“I will tell her the truth.”
“I will tell her you were intelligent.”
“Charming.”
“Afraid.”
“Ambitious.”
“And cruel.”
“I will tell her that loving someone does not erase what they choose to do.”
David looked away.
Officers took him back to his cell.
That night, federal teams surrounded the abandoned courthouse.
They entered through three points.
The records room was empty.
The floor had been opened.
The underground server vault was gone.
On the wall, Marcus had written a message in black paint.
CHIEF JUSTICE HALE HAS FORTY-EIGHT HOURS.
May you like
Below it was a photograph of my father entering the hospital.
A red circle had been drawn around his head.
