Chapter 14 - A STATEMENT SIGNED IN FEAR
Susan authorized the download while Rachel's office documented every file and timestamp.
The archive held more than we expected: the minutes before the dinner, Robert's order, my defensive movement, and his threat at the door.
For the first time in a week, I could see a way out.
Then David handed Rachel a document he'd hidden from me.
It was a declaration submitted in support of his father's petition.
David had signed it online the morning after the dinner.
He'd said I grabbed him without warning and that his father had been trying to calm the situation.
The words weren't merely incomplete.
They turned the truth upside down.
“Did you read this before you signed it?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Why?”
“Dad said he'd force Mom out if I didn't.”
“You let me face losing my job while you helped him?”
David's eyes filled.
“I'm ashamed.”
“So am I,” I said.
I hated those words the second I spoke them, but I couldn't pull them back.
Rachel told David to obtain independent legal advice and correct false statements through proper channels.
“If you go into that hearing and lie again, you won't be protecting anyone,” she said.
He nodded, pale.
My wedding ring felt heavy on my finger.
I took it off and placed it in my purse.
David watched, but he didn't ask me to put it back on.
At Linda's house that night, Susan hugged me before leaving for an appointment with Angela.
“Thank you for believing I can do this,” she whispered.
She promised to call when she arrived.
An hour passed.
Then two.
Her phone went straight to voicemail.
Linda looked out the window at an unfamiliar pickup idling across the street.
May you like
I recognized the driver's silhouette.
It was Robert.
