Chapter 5
The security system was installed the next day.
Cameras at every door. Motion sensors. An alarm that would alert the police immediately if anyone tried to break in.
I felt safer. But not safe.
Ryan's threat hung over me like a dark cloud. I found myself looking over my shoulder, jumping at every unexpected sound.
Lisa tried to keep our spirits up. She cooked our favorite meals. She put on funny movies. She made us laugh when all we wanted to do was cry.
But the tension was always there.
Three days after we moved in, my phone rang. It was Karen.
"Good news and bad news," she said.
"Give me the bad news first."
"Diane is claiming self-defense. She says your mother attacked her, and she was just protecting herself. She's trying to paint your mother as violent and confused."
My blood boiled.
"That's a lie. Mom would never hurt anyone."
"I know. But it's what they're going with. The good news is, the DA has reviewed the evidence and they're pressing charges. Assault against Diane. Forgery and fraud against both Diane and Ryan. It's going to trial."
I felt a surge of relief.
"Really?"
"Really. And in the divorce case, the judge has ordered temporary spousal support. He has to pay you a monthly amount until the divorce is finalized. And he's been ordered to stay away from you and your mother. No contact, no communication, no coming within five hundred feet."
"Thank God."
"There's one more thing," Karen said. Her voice was careful. "Ryan has lawyered up. Good lawyer. Expensive. He's not going to go down without a fight."
"Neither am I."
That weekend, I went back to the house to get more things. I brought Lisa with me. I wasn't stupid enough to go alone.
The house felt different. Cold. Empty. Like it had never been a home.
We packed boxes of my things. My clothes. My books. Photos of me and my mother. Photos of my father.
I left everything that belonged to Ryan. Everything that reminded me of him.
As I was going through the home office, I found something.
A locked drawer in Ryan's desk.
I'd never seen it locked before.
"Lisa," I called. "Can you get me a screwdriver?"
She brought it to me. I pried the drawer open.
Inside were papers. Lots of them.
I spread them out on the desk.
And what I found made my blood run cold.
Bank accounts I'd never known about. Credit cards in my name that I'd never applied for. Loans taken out against assets that were mine alone.
He hadn't just been sending money to Sarah.
He'd been building a secret life. A life funded by my money, my credit, my name.
There were emails too. Printed out, saved in a folder.
Emails between Ryan and Diane.
I started reading.
"Mom, Emily is getting suspicious. She asked about the bank account yesterday."
"Don't worry. I'll handle Margaret. If she's out of the way, Emily will be too distraught to notice anything."
"The property transfer is almost done. Once we have the house, we can sell it and pay off Sarah's condo."
"Good. That child needs a proper home. Not like the one Emily would have given it."
I felt sick.
They'd been planning this for months. Planning to steal my mother's house. Planning to get rid of us. Planning to build a new life with Sarah and the baby.
And there was more.
An email from Ryan to Diane, sent just two days before I'd walked in on them in the kitchen.
"Margaret saw me with Sarah. She knows. We have to do something. If she tells Emily, everything is over."
Diane's reply came an hour later.
"I'll take care of it. Don't worry. She won't be talking to anyone."
I dropped the paper like it was on fire.
Diane hadn't just snapped in the kitchen. She hadn't just lost her temper.
She'd planned it.
She'd intended to hurt my mother. To silence her.
Maybe even worse.
"Emily?" Lisa's voice was soft. "What is it?"
I handed her the emails.
She read them. Her face went white.
"Oh my God."
"They planned it," I said. My voice was shaking. "All of it. The assault. The theft. Everything. They were going to get rid of us and take everything."
Lisa put her arm around me.
"We have to give these to Karen. Immediately."
I nodded.
I gathered all the papers. Every email, every bank statement, every loan document. I put them in a box. I held onto it like it was evidence in a murder trial.
Because in a way, it was.
They'd tried to destroy us. To kill our lives, our happiness, our future.
We drove straight to Karen's office.
She read through everything. Her face grew darker and darker.
"This changes everything," she said. "This proves premeditation. This proves conspiracy. They didn't just make a mistake. They planned this."
She looked up at me.
"With this evidence, they're not just going to lose the divorce. They're going to prison."
I felt a cold satisfaction.
"Good."
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I lay in the guest room at Lisa's house, staring at the ceiling. The emails played over and over in my head.
"She won't be talking to anyone."
What would Diane have done if I hadn't walked in when I did?
Would she have hurt my mother worse?
Would she have...
I couldn't finish the thought.
I got out of bed and went to the room where my mother was sleeping. She was curled up under the covers, her face peaceful in sleep.
I sat beside her on the bed. I stroked her hair.
She opened her eyes.
"Emily? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said. "I just... I needed to see you."
She sat up and put her arms around me.
"I'm okay, baby. We're okay."
I hugged her back.
"I know. But after what I read today... I just keep thinking about what could have happened."
My mother was quiet for a moment.
"But it didn't happen," she said finally. "You were there. You saved me. And now we have proof of what they planned. They're going to pay for it."
I pulled back to look at her.
"How are you so strong?"
She smiled, a sad, tired smile.
"Because I have to be. For you. And because your father would want me to be. He always said I was tougher than I looked."
I laughed through my tears.
"He was right."
We sat there for a long time, holding each other.
And for the first time since this nightmare began, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time.
Hope.
Real hope.
We had the evidence. We had the law on our side. We had each other.
Ryan and Diane had tried to destroy us.
May you like
But they'd failed.
And now it was our turn.
