Chapter 4 - The First Decision Hannah Made Without Derek
Hannah’s son was born at 2:43 that afternoon.
Seven pounds, four ounces.
Healthy lungs.
A furious little cry.
They named him Eli Thomas Shaw.
Thomas cried when he heard the middle name.
Hannah pretended not to notice.
Derek was not in the delivery room.
He called seventeen times.
Hospital staff did not transfer the calls.
He sent messages instead.
Hannah didn’t read them.
Not yet.
For the first six hours of Eli’s life, she allowed herself one task only.
Feed him.
Hold him.
Sleep when she could.
At nine that evening, the hospital social worker returned.
Her name was Simone Avery.
She explained options without telling Hannah what decision to make.
Hannah could request confidential visitor restrictions.
She could document the assault.
She could speak with a domestic-violence advocate.
She could make her own decision about where to go after discharge.
Hannah chose all four.
She also told Thomas something he clearly hated hearing.
“You’re not going to the house.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“I heard you in the foyer.”
“How?”
Hannah showed him the last voice memo her phone had accidentally captured after she had hit the emergency shortcut while reaching for the labor bag.
It contained only fragments.
Derek shouting.
The bag hitting the porch.
Hannah saying her father would come.
Then nothing.
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“That’s enough for me.”
“It isn’t enough for me.”
“Hannah—”
“No.”
She adjusted Eli against her chest.
“I threatened Derek with you because I was terrified. But I’m not replacing one man making decisions for me with another.”
Thomas looked wounded.
She continued.
“I want to know why you fired him. I want to know what he’s been hiding. Then I’ll decide what happens.”
Thomas sat down.
“All right.”
It was the first time he had ever surrendered an argument that easily.
The next morning Hannah gave Simone permission to photograph the fading mark on her cheek and document what she had reported.
She also changed every important password she could remember.
Email.
Banking.
Cloud storage.
Mobile carrier.
Then she found something small.
Her wireless account showed a secondary device logged into her cloud messages.
Derek’s iPad.
Hannah stared at the screen.
He had always claimed the devices synchronized accidentally.
She had believed him.
She signed the tablet out remotely.
Within four minutes Derek called.
Hannah watched the phone vibrate.
Then came his message.
What are you doing?
Another.
Stop changing things without talking to me.
Hannah looked at those words for a long time.
Not Are you okay?
Not How is our son?
What are you doing?
She took a screenshot and sent it to herself.
Then she turned off her phone.
May you like
It was a small decision.
But Derek immediately knew something had changed.
