Chapter 6: The Woman Who Finally Spoke
Eleanor took me home with her that evening.
She placed a small metal box on the kitchen table.
“Evan mailed this to me two years ago,” she said.
“Grant told me it contained private business documents.”
“You never opened it?”
“I chose not to.”
Her fingers trembled against the latch.
“That choice helped Jocelyn.
I will not make it twice.”
Inside was an envelope, an old phone, and a flash drive.
Eleanor handed me the envelope.
My name was written across the front.
I unfolded the letter.
“Laurel,” Evan had written, “your test was changed.
Jocelyn has the original report.
Do not sign anything she gives you.”
I covered my mouth.
“He tried to warn me.”
Eleanor pulled out a chair.
“And I left his warning in a box.”
“You believed your son.”
“I believed silence would protect my family.”
She sat across from me.
“It only protected the people doing harm.”
My tears fell onto Evan’s letter.
Eleanor came around the table and wrapped both arms around me.
“I wanted a child so badly,” I said.
“Grant made me feel ashamed for grieving.”
“You should never have carried that shame.”
“I lost years.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“And I am sorry I helped him take them.”
I cried against the shoulder of the woman who had once watched me leave her family without saying goodbye.
She held me until my hands stopped shaking.
The old phone lit up when Eleanor connected the charger.
“There are messages,” she said.
One thread was between Evan and Jocelyn.
Another was between Jocelyn and an administrator at the Bellamy company.
I opened an audio attachment.
Jocelyn’s voice came first.
“Move the transfer into Evan’s account.
Grant never checks anything if the total still looks right.”
A man answered, “And if Evan comes back?”
“He won’t.
I have enough to bury him.”
Eleanor reached for her phone.
“We need your attorney.”
A call appeared on the old device before she could dial.
The screen showed Jocelyn’s name.
“She must still think Evan has this number,” I said.
Eleanor pressed record and answered.
Jocelyn spoke immediately.
“Evan, listen carefully.
I’ll give you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars if you deny paternity and leave again.”
I kept silent.
“If you refuse,” she continued, “I’ll make sure you never see that child without a guard watching you.”
I held the phone closer.
“And Laurel?” I asked.
Silence filled the line.
Then Jocelyn laughed softly.
“So Eleanor finally opened the box.”
“You forged my signature.”
“You can’t prove who held the pen.”
“We can prove when the form was created.”
“That proves nothing.
Grant’s name is on it too.”
“He is cooperating.”
“Grant will protect himself.
He always does.”
A car door closed outside.
Eleanor crossed to the window.
Jocelyn’s voice sharpened.
“You should have taken my offer, Laurel.”
Headlights swept across the kitchen wall.
Grant hurried up the path and pounded on the door.
Eleanor opened it.
“She took the baby,” he said.
“Her apartment is empty.”
I held up the phone.
“Jocelyn, where are you?”
The line went quiet.
A baby made a small sound in the background.
Then Jocelyn whispered, “By tomorrow morning, none of you will be able to reach us.”
The call ended.
Evan entered behind Grant with one of the officers who had questioned him.
“They cleared me,” he said.
“The transfer records came from Jocelyn’s device.”
Grant looked at the dark window.
“She has my passport for the baby.”
Evan’s face hardened.
“He isn’t your baby.”
“No,” Grant said.
“But he is an innocent child who thinks I’m his father.”
The officer lifted his radio.
“We’re issuing an alert.”
Eleanor’s old phone chimed again.
A photograph appeared—Jocelyn holding the child beside an airport departure board.
May you like
Under it were six words:
“Withdraw everything, or we get on.”
