Chapter 7 - Echoes of an Older Sister
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I sat in the heavy silence of my truck, listening through the phone receiver as Audrey opened the file.
For two minutes, there was no sound from her end except for the faint, tinny echo of Eleanor’s recorded voice spilling out of her phone speaker: "Get down on your hands and knees and clean up this glass. Only then will I let you hold him."
Then came the gasp.
It was a sound of profound, ancient agony—a sharp, desperate intake of air that sounded as though Audrey had been struck in the chest with a sledgehammer.
"Oh my God..." Audrey whispered, her voice cracking violently into heavy, frantic sobs. "Oh my God, Julian... she’s doing it to Clara too..."
"What do you mean 'too'?" I asked quietly, though deep down, I already knew the horrific answer.
"When I had my daughter Maya six years ago... when David was out on deployment..." Audrey wept openly now, her composure completely shattered. "Eleanor came to stay with me. She told me I was crazy. She hid my postpartum medication, she told me my baby hated me, and she stood over me while I cried on the kitchen floor... she convinced me I had severe psychosis, Julian! She made me believe I was a danger to my own child!"
A sickening wave of guilt washed over me. I remembered that year. I remembered Eleanor telling me that Audrey was "unstable" and needed space. I had believed her. I had let my sister suffer alone.
"I’m sorry, Audrey," I said, my chest tightening. "I am so, so sorry I didn't see it back then."
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"It’s not your fault," Audrey sobbed, wiping her face. "She's a monster, Julian. She plays the perfect mother to the world, but behind closed doors, she breaks women when they are at their weakest. What are you going to do?"
"I am going to end her," I said smoothly. "And I need your help to make sure she never rises again."
