Chapter 15 - THE NIGHT SHE TRIED TO LEAVE
Vanessa violated the temporary no-contact arrangement on Thursday night.
At 11:32 p.m., the driveway camera alerted me to movement.
She was at the side gate.
I called Rebecca and then the police non-emergency line because the court order required all property retrieval to be supervised.
Vanessa rang the bell anyway.
"Daniel, open the door."
I spoke through the camera.
"You need to leave."
"I need my medication."
"An officer can escort you inside tomorrow."
Her face changed.
"You are treating me like a criminal because Lily knows how to manipulate you."
Upstairs, Lily appeared on the landing.
"Go back to Jenna's room," I told her gently.
Vanessa heard me.
"Lily! Tell your father the truth!"
My daughter froze.
"Tell him you begged me not to send those videos to him!"
I looked at Lily.
She was shaking.
"What videos?"
Vanessa realized too late that she had said too much.
Police arrived seven minutes later.
During the supervised property check the next morning, officers found a second prepaid phone hidden inside Vanessa's winter boot.
The phone held videos I had never seen.
Lily at the kitchen table repeating apologies until Vanessa approved her tone.
Lily standing in the laundry room while a timer counted down.
Lily crying as Vanessa said, "Your dad is tired of this."
Then one final video.
Vanessa filmed herself talking to the camera as if making notes.
"She breaks faster when Daniel is traveling. The key is convincing her he already agrees with me."
I had to stop watching.
Rebecca did not.
She watched to the end.
Then she said, "Daniel, there's a date on this file."
May you like
It was recorded eleven months earlier.
Three weeks before Vanessa and I got married.
