Chapter 9 - The Phone Call
At exactly noon, my emergency phone vibrated. I glanced at the caller ID. It was Derek.
I looked at Naomi and Elias. Naomi gave me a sharp nod, pressing a small recording device to the table. I cleared my throat, forcing my voice to sound small, weak, and appropriately frightened.
"Hello?" I answered, letting my voice tremble slightly.
"Where the hell are you?" Derek demanded immediately, the aggression vibrating through the speaker. There was no relief in his voice, only annoyance.
"I'm... I'm safe," I stuttered.
"Safe?" he scoffed loudly. "You embarrassed me in front of my partners yesterday, Lena. And now you pull a disappearing act? Mom says you’re probably holed up in some cheap motel, telling people I abandoned you to get sympathy."
"You did abandon me, Derek," I said, keeping my tone submissive and pleading. "You pushed me out of the car in the snow."
He laughed. It was a cruel, harsh sound that echoed in the quiet hospital room.
"Prove it, Lena. Prove I pushed you. It's your word against a respected financial director. Who do you think the cops will believe? The successful husband, or the hysterical, hormonal pregnant woman who wanders off because she didn't get her way?"
I glanced over at the hospital room door, where Rosa, the truck driver, had just returned with two police officers to give her official statement. Then I looked at Naomi, who was holding the thumb drive containing the high-definition dashcam footage from Rosa's rig, already copied to three secure cloud servers.
"I’m sure you’re right, Derek," I whispered, injecting a note of defeat into my voice. "You always win."
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That answer pleased him immensely. Arrogant people invariably hear surrender where careful people are simply creating room to strike.
"Exactly," he sneered. "Now get your act together and come home. I'm busy." He hung up.
