Chapter 2 - Twenty Months of Carefully Managed Lies
Audrey carried Micah upstairs while Graham followed several steps behind.
“Audrey, slow down. You’re misunderstanding what you saw.”
She entered Micah’s bedroom and stopped.
The room she had decorated before leaving was gone.
His sailboat bedding had been replaced with a thin gray blanket. The shelves that once held books were nearly empty. Several unopened toys Audrey had mailed from Seattle were stacked inside the closet, still bearing shipping labels.
On the dresser sat framed photographs of Graham, Sabrina, and Theo.
There were none of Audrey.
Micah clung to her neck as she opened the bathroom door. His toothbrush was dry and stiff. The child-sized bath towels she had purchased were missing.
Audrey called her pediatrician.
Graham reached for her phone. “Don’t turn this into some emergency.”
She stepped away from him.
“Our son is four years old, underweight, terrified of being touched, and crawling because no one helped him when he stopped walking. It is an emergency.”
“He has behavioral problems.”
“Who diagnosed him?”
Graham looked toward the hallway.
“My mother spoke to someone.”
“What doctor?”
He had no answer.
Audrey packed clean clothes, Micah’s medical folder, and the few familiar belongings she could find. When she picked up his wooden truck, she noticed his name had been scratched from the bottom and replaced with Theo’s initials.
Downstairs, Sabrina waited beside the front door.
“You can’t just take him,” she said. “This is his home.”
Audrey adjusted Micah against her shoulder.
“This is my home.”
Sabrina’s mouth curved. “You’ve been gone almost two years.”
“I was saving the company that pays for it.”
Graham came down the stairs. “Sabrina has been helping with Micah.”
Micah buried his face against Audrey’s neck.
Sabrina crossed her arms. “He never bonded with me. I tried.”
“You laughed when you called him a floor crawler.”
“That was a joke.”
“He’s four.”
Lorraine entered from the dining room, still holding her champagne glass.
“Stop performing, Audrey. You chose your career. Sabrina remained here and gave this family stability.”
Audrey looked at Theo.
The boy had Graham’s dark eyebrows beneath his blond hair. He was five, not four as Graham had once claimed when Audrey saw him briefly during an office holiday event.
“How long has Theo been living here?”
Graham rubbed the back of his neck.
“A few months.”
Lorraine answered more honestly.
“Since shortly after you left.”
Audrey felt the betrayal, but she refused to give them the reaction they expected.
“Micah and I are going to the hospital.”
Graham stepped in front of the door. “You’re not taking my son anywhere while you’re emotional.”
Audrey shifted Micah securely onto one hip and turned her phone screen toward Graham.
The call was still active.
A woman’s voice came through the speaker.
“Mr. Keller, this is Dana Pierce, general counsel for Keller Northstar. I’ve heard enough to advise you not to obstruct Ms. Keller or the child.”
Graham went still.
Audrey opened the door.
May you like
The quiet call had not been to the police.
It had been to the attorney who had spent six months helping Audrey uncover why she had really been sent away.
