CHAP 3 — Leo Calls for Help
In the ICU, my son became the bravest person in the room.
“My mom is going to wake up,” Leo cried.
Marcus laughed.
Dry.
Cruel.
“No, Leo. Your mom doesn’t get a say in anything anymore.”
Victoria came close enough that I felt the chill of her perfume.
“She always did love being the center of attention,” she whispered near my ear. “Even asleep, she plays the martyr.”
If my body had obeyed me, I would have risen from that bed and wrapped my hands around betrayal itself.
Instead, I lay still.
Listening.
Trapped.
Victoria’s voice dropped lower.
“Once she finally passes, we’re taking the boy straight to the estate in Connecticut. Far away from questions, far away from neighbors, and far away from nosy attorneys.”
Leo stepped back.
“You’re taking me away from my home?”
Marcus’s voice hardened.
“We’re taking you somewhere you’ll finally learn to keep your mouth shut.”
“I don’t want to. I want my mom to wake up.”
“Your mom is never waking up,” Marcus spat. “And you are going to do exactly what I tell you to do.”
Then Leo said the name that changed the room.
“No. Mom told me if anything ever happened to her, I was supposed to call Ms. Lawson.”
Silence collapsed over the ICU.
Even the machines seemed louder.
Marcus moved first.
The door slammed shut.
A lock clicked.
“What lawyer, Leo?”
Victoria’s voice lost its sweetness.
“Marcus… that boy knows too much.”
My son’s breathing turned shallow.
I knew that sound.
Panic.
He used to breathe that way during thunderstorms before I taught him to count between lightning and thunder.
I tried to move.
Nothing.
Leo backed toward my bed.
“Don’t touch me.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Give me your phone.”
“No.”
“Leo.”
“No.”
Then it happened.
A single finger on my right hand twitched.
Not much.
A movement so small most people would miss it.
Leo saw.
My boy saw.
He did not gasp.
He did not shout.
He did not betray me to the monsters in the room.
He leaned close, kissed my bruised cheek, and whispered, “Don’t move, Mom. I already called for help.”
Hope entered me like pain.
Marcus grabbed his arm.
“Get away from her.”
Leo cried out.
My body answered before my mind could.
My eyes snapped open.
The ceiling burst into focus.
White lights.
Marcus’s face.
Victoria’s mouth opening in horror.
Leo twisting in his father’s grip.
My right hand shot from beneath the sheet and closed around Marcus’s wrist.
He froze.
For one second, nobody breathed.
I had no strength.
No voice for twelve days.
No plan beyond fury.
But my fingers tightened around him with everything my ruined body had left.
“I can hear every single word, Marcus.”
His face drained of color.
Victoria stumbled backward, knocking into the bedside table. The white coffee cup tipped, spilling across the “Get Well Soon” card Leo had placed there.
“Valerie,” Marcus whispered.
I stared at him.
Not as a wife.
May you like
As a witness.
“Let go of my son.”
