CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
By morning, my sister Lauren was in my hospital room with a folder, a lawyer, and a look on her face I had not seen since we were children.
Pure fury.
She hugged me carefully, avoiding every cast and bruise.
“I should have known,” she whispered.
I shook my head.
“I hid it.”
“No,” she said. “He trained you to.”
The lawyer, Daniel Price, placed copies of the paperwork on my tray table.
Caleb had forged my signature on a medical power of attorney.
He had requested early discharge against medical advice.
He had tried to move me out of the hospital before my insurance-approved rehabilitation transfer could begin.
And then Daniel showed me the financial records.
My hands went cold.
The joint account was nearly empty.
Emma’s college savings had been drained.
My small inheritance from my grandmother had been moved into an account I had never seen.
The accident settlement paperwork had been opened, reviewed, and partially completed.
By Caleb.
Not me.
Lauren’s voice shook.
“He wasn’t trying to save money. He was trying to get control before you were alert enough to stop him.”
I stared at the papers until the words blurred.
For years, Caleb told me I was bad with money.
Too emotional.
Too dependent.
Too lucky that he handled everything.
But I had been an accountant before I became his wife.
He did not control the money because I was weak.
He controlled it because he was stealing.
Daniel leaned forward.
“Rebecca, we can file for an emergency protective order today. We can freeze the accounts we know about. We can notify the settlement attorney that Caleb has no authority to speak for you.”
My eyes moved to the window.
Chicago’s winter light lay pale across the floor.
For twenty-one days, I had felt trapped inside my broken body.
Now I understood something colder.
Caleb had not been waiting for me to heal.
He had been waiting for me to be helpless enough to rob.
My phone buzzed on the bedside table.
Unknown number.
Daniel answered on speaker.
Caleb’s voice filled the room.
“You need to fix this before I come back there.”
Lauren went still.
Daniel’s eyes sharpened.
I looked at Sarah, standing quietly near the doorway.
Then at Officer Grant, who had just returned with a follow-up form in her hand.
Everyone heard him.
For the second time in twenty-four hours, Caleb had threatened me with witnesses in the room.
I closed my eyes.
May you like
Then I opened them.
“No, Caleb,” I said clearly. “I’m done fixing what you break.”
