Chapter 5 - The Price of Silence
Mara called that afternoon and asked whether I wanted to pursue a protective order.
I said yes.
The process would require evidence and a hearing, and I knew Gavin would contest every word.
What frightened me most was not seeing him in court.
It was imagining Brenda sitting behind him, shaking her head as though my injuries were imaginary.
Naomi drove me to a medical appointment to document the recent swelling in my wrist.
I had been minimizing pain so long that I apologized when the examination made me wince.
The nurse looked at me kindly.
“You don't have to apologize for being hurt.”
I wrote that sentence in my notebook before I forgot it.
Gavin's attorney sent Mara a proposal that evening.
He offered to move out temporarily if I signed an agreement accepting liability for his company's debts and promising never to discuss our marriage publicly.
He also demanded a cash settlement that would exhaust most of my savings.
“He wants your silence to finance his exit,” Mara said.
I asked if the proposal had legal force.
“Not unless you agree to it.”
I stared at the numbers long enough to notice a familiar vendor name.
The same company had charged Gavin's business nearly forty thousand dollars over six months.
Foundation Integrity Services.
I called my accountant, Daniel Cho, and asked him to review the transfers I was authorized to see.
Daniel had been warning me for weeks that Gavin's records were incomplete.
Now his voice went quiet.
“I found entries labeled capital improvements,” he said.
“But some invoices appear to be for residential investigations.”
“Of my house?”
“That's what I need to verify.”
Later, I met Mara in her office and signed the filings.
When I stood to leave, she asked whether I had considered what I wanted when the legal battle ended.
For a moment I could think only of getting even.
Then I pictured sunlight in the kitchen without Brenda's voice counting my mistakes.
“I want the right to lock my own front door,” I said.
Mara nodded.
As I reached the elevator, Daniel sent one more message.
There's a second account.
The account holder's initials are B.H.
May you like
Brenda Hartley.
