Chapter 4: The Woman Who Called
I stared at the text for a long time before I typed back.
*Who is this?*
The reply came in under a minute.
*My name is Diane.
I was Marcus's girlfriend before Elaine.
I've been waiting two years for someone to reach out.*
I sat in the car until my hands stopped shaking.
Then I called her.
She picked up on the first ring.
"Thank you for calling," she said.
Her voice was steady, careful, like someone who had rehearsed staying calm.
"How did you get my number?" I asked.
"Marcus's cousin.
Sandra.
She's been worried about him for a long time.
She thought you might need to know what I know."
I hadn't spoken to Sandra in months.
Marcus had quietly stopped including her in family events after the wedding.
"Tell me," I said.
Diane took a breath.
"When Marcus and I were together, Elaine was his coworker.
I didn't know anything was happening between them until he ended things with me.
But after — after I had some time — I started hearing things from people we both knew."
"What kind of things?"
"That she had done the same thing with her previous boyfriend.
Isolated him from his family.
Created reasons for him to cut people off.
His mother, his brother, eventually his friends.
By the time they broke up, he had no one left."
I looked out the windshield at the empty street.
"Do you have any proof of this?" I asked.
"I have screenshots of messages she sent me directly.
After Marcus and I broke up, she contacted me.
She told me to stop trying to reach him — that if I didn't, she would report me for harassment.
I had sent him one message.
One.
Asking if he was okay."
"She threatened you."
"She knew exactly what she was doing.
And she knew I couldn't afford a legal fight." A pause.
"She's very good at making people feel like they have no options."
I thought about the draft letter.
The fabricated dates.
The way she had set it on the table without hesitation.
"Diane," I said.
"Would you be willing to put what you know in writing?"
Silence.
"I know that's a lot to ask," I said.
"It's not that," she said.
"I'm willing.
I've been willing.
I just — I need to know it will actually matter.
Last time I tried to warn someone, they didn't believe me.
They thought I was a bitter ex."
"Who did you try to warn?"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"Marcus," she said.
"Eight months ago.
He blocked me the same day."
I closed my eyes.
"He didn't tell me," I said.
"No," Diane said quietly.
"I didn't think he would."
We stayed on the line without speaking for a moment.
Then she said:
"There's something else.
Something I didn't find out until recently.
About Elaine's mother."
"What about her?"
"She's not who Elaine says she is.
And the grandmother arrangement — the one in the rules — it's not about protecting the baby." Her voice dropped.
May you like
"It's about money.
A lot of it."
