Chapter 6 - THE DAUGHTER WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHING
Elena signed nothing.
Derek locked her in the laundry room until midnight. When he finally opened the door, Callie was sitting on the hallway floor.
“Go to bed,” he told her.
Callie did not move.
Derek raised one hand.
Elena stepped between them.
“I’ll finish the papers tomorrow.”
That promise bought them one night.
In the bedroom, Callie whispered that Martha had been teaching June what to say if “a lady from the government” came to the house.
Grandma never saw Dad hurt Mom.
Mom falls because she is clumsy.
Mom gets angry and breaks things.
“Did she make you say it too?” Elena asked.
Callie nodded.
“I said it wrong on purpose.”
Elena held her daughter without telling her she was brave. Callie should never have needed bravery inside her own home.
The next morning, Derek took the girls with him to prevent Elena from leaving. He ordered Martha to watch her.
Martha tied Elena to the porch pillar again but did not strike her. Instead, she sat nearby with the roofing tool across her knees.
“You’ve made Derek desperate,” she said.
“He made himself desperate.”
“He had a future before you.”
“He stole from his workers.”
“He borrowed until the next contracts came.”
“Travis died.”
Martha’s jaw shifted.
“That harness had been reported defective. Derek couldn’t afford another shutdown.”
“So you removed the clip.”
“I fixed what I could.”
“You filed it down.”
Martha stood.
“You think the world gives people like us clean choices? Men with office jobs make one mistake and call an attorney. My son misses one insurance payment and they take everything.”
Elena looked at the rental house with its broken gutter and peeling trim.
“Where did the money go, Martha?”
The question stopped her.
Derek claimed the business failed, yet workers’ wages, insurance deductions, equipment, and loan funds had vanished.
Martha walked inside without answering.
Elena turned her wrists until the split rope reached the rusted nail. She worked quietly, ignoring the raw skin beneath the knot.
One strand broke.
Then another.
She could pull free now.
But Derek had the girls.
Escaping alone would leave Callie and June with the people who had begun coaching them.
Elena retied the rope loosely before Martha returned.
At noon, the prepaid phone vibrated inside the diaper bag near the porch door.
Naomi had sent only three words.
WE FOUND RACHEL.
Elena’s older sister lived two hours away in San Angelo. They had not spoken in fourteen months because Rachel once called Derek controlling and Elena defended him.
May you like
Now Rachel was willing to come.
The question was whether she would arrive before Derek brought the girls home.
