But she was awake.
Alive.
And looking directly at me.
“Faye,” she whispered again.
“I’m here.”
Her lower lip trembled.
Edric laughed softly.
It wasn’t the laugh of a nervous man.
It was the laugh of someone who still believed he was in control.
“You girls are confused,” he said. “You’ve been through a traumatic accident.”
Dr. Cooper stood between him and the beds.
“No,” the doctor replied.
One word.
Quiet.
Certain.
Edric’s smile disappeared.
The security guard appeared in the doorway.
Behind him stood another hospital employee, already speaking urgently into a phone.
“Police are on the way.”
For the first time that night, Edric looked toward the exit.
I saw it.
The calculation.
His eyes moved from the door to the security guard.
Then to my mother.
Then back to us.
He was calculating distance.
Time.
Witnesses.
Possibilities.
I knew that look.
I’d seen it hundreds of times.
Edric never panicked.
He planned.
That was what made him dangerous.
But this time there was something different in his expression.
Fear.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
But it was there.
Chloe saw it too.
Her fingers slowly curled around the edge of the hospital blanket.
“Faye,” she murmured.
“What?”
“The phone.”
My heart stopped.
I stared at her.
She barely moved her lips.
“The phone.”
Edric’s head snapped toward us.
“What phone?”
Neither of us answered.
Dr. Cooper looked between the three of us.
“Girls, I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”
My mother suddenly stepped forward.
“Doctor, they’re confused. They hit their heads. They don’t know what they’re saying.”
“Mrs. Morgan,” Dr. Cooper said, “please step away from the beds.”
Brenda froze.
She looked at Edric.
He looked at her.
That single exchange told me more than words ever could.
They were communicating.
Without speaking.
The same way they’d done it for years.
My mother always looked at Edric before answering difficult questions.
As though he were the one who knew what she was allowed to say.
Dr. Cooper noticed.
So did the security guard.
And suddenly my mother began crying.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” she whispered.
Chloe closed her eyes.
I felt something inside me crack.
Not from pain.
From betrayal.
I’d spent years wondering whether my mother truly believed Edric’s lies.
Now I understood.
She didn’t.
She knew.
Maybe she hadn’t known everything.
Maybe she had convinced herself that things weren’t as bad as they were.
But she knew enough.
She had always known enough.
“You told them we fell down the stairs,” I said.
Brenda covered her mouth.
“I was scared.”
“So were we.”
She looked at me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Chloe suddenly laughed.
It was a small, broken sound.
“You were trying to protect him.”
My mother flinched.
Edric stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
The security guard immediately blocked him.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
Edric’s jaw tightened.
Then the first police officer entered.
Everything changed.
Not immediately.
Not dramatically.
There were no shouted commands.
No weapons drawn.
Just two officers walking into the examination room and looking carefully at everyone.
One of them was a woman with short dark hair.
She looked at me.
Then Chloe.
Then the bruises.
Her expression hardened.
“Who is responsible for these injuries?”
Nobody answered.
She asked again.
“Who hurt you?”
My throat closed.
For years, I’d imagined this moment.
I’d imagined screaming.
I’d imagined pointing at Edric.
I’d imagined telling someone everything.
But when the question finally came, I couldn’t speak.
Chloe could.
“He did.”
Her finger lifted.
Slowly.
It pointed directly at Edric.
He stared at her.
And smiled.
Not kindly.
Not warmly.
A warning.
Chloe’s hand began shaking.
I reached across the space between our beds.
Our fingers touched.
She squeezed.
And I squeezed back.
The officer looked at Edric.
“Sir, you’re going to need to come with us.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“That’s what the evidence will determine.”
“I brought them here.”
“Yes,” the officer said. “You did.”
Something about her tone made him stop.
She looked toward the doctor.
“Doctor?”
Dr. Cooper handed her a folder.
“These injuries are inconsistent with a single fall down a staircase.”
The officer opened it.
She didn’t need long.
“Are the injuries consistent with repeated physical assault?”
Dr. Cooper looked at us.
Then back at her.
“Yes.”
Edric shook his head.
“This is ridiculous.”
The officer looked at him.
“Then I’m sure you’ll have no trouble explaining yourself.”
He didn’t answer.
For the first time in my life, I watched someone else make Edric uncomfortable.
It felt strange.
Almost unreal.
Then the officer turned toward me.
“Faye, is there anything else you want us to know?”
My mouth went dry.
The phone.
The recordings.
The floorboard.
The cloud account.
Dad’s trust.
Uncle Alan.
Everything came rushing back.
I looked at Chloe.
She knew.
She gave the smallest nod.
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
The officer waited.
“There are recordings.”
Edric’s face changed.
Completely.
His confidence vanished.
“What recordings?”
I stared at him.
And for the first time, I didn’t look away.
“Yours.”
Silence.
His breathing changed.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“You don’t have anything.”
“I do.”
He stepped forward.
The security guard stopped him.
Edric’s eyes remained fixed on me.
“Where?”
