Chapter 8: Petra
Her voice was steady.
Careful.
The voice of someone who had learned not to lead with trust.
"I wasn't sure you'd respond," she said.
"I'm glad you reached out," I told her.
"My name is—"
"I know who you are," Petra said.
"I've known about you for a while.
Ryan mentioned you when he contacted me last year.
He was making amends." A pause.
"He told me what he'd done.
To both of us."
"He told me about you too," I said.
"What happened with the report."
"Did he tell you it wasn't just me?"
I went still.
Ryan was watching my face.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I wasn't the first," Petra said.
"Before me, there was a girl named Cora Hines.
Two years ahead of us.
Diane did the same thing to her — found her weakness, used someone else to deliver it, made sure nothing could be traced back.
Cora left the school district entirely.
I only know because Cora found me online about three years ago.
She'd been trying to find others."
"How many others?"
"That we've confirmed?
Four.
Including you and me."
The kitchen was very quiet.
"Petra," I said carefully, "have you kept records?"
"Everything," she said.
"Cora has records too.
Timelines, screenshots, the name of the counselor who made the original report disappear — she tracked him down.
He retired but he kept notes.
He felt guilty about it for twenty years."
Ryan had his head in his hands.
"Why are you coming forward now?" I asked.
"Because you went after Marcus's license," she said.
"That was the first time anyone had done anything that left a mark.
When I saw the licensing board complaint go public this morning, I thought — she's not going to stop.
And I didn't want you to stop without knowing the full picture."
I looked at Ryan.
He looked back at me.
"Can you and Cora meet with us?" I asked.
"In person?"
"Yes," Petra said.
"I've been ready for a long time."
After I hung up, the kitchen was silent for a moment.
Then Ryan said: "I'm sorry.
I should have told you about Petra before the wedding."
"Yes," I said.
"You should have."
"Are you—"
"I'm not leaving," I said.
"But I need you to understand that from here forward, there are no more letters in your pocket that I don't know about.
No more things you're waiting for the right moment to say.
If we're doing this, we do it with everything on the table."
He nodded.
His eyes were wet.
"Everything on the table," he said.
I picked up my phone and opened my lawyer's contact.
There was a longer conversation ahead of us than I'd realized.
But for the first time since our wedding night, I didn't feel like I was standing at the edge of something unknown.
May you like
I knew exactly where I was standing.
And I knew exactly what came next.
