Chapter 3 - The Call to Thomas
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I scrolled through my contact list until I reached a phone number I had not dialed in over five long years.
My thumb hovered over the screen. Five years of silence, hurt pride, and bitter arguments were standing between me and the person on the other end. But as I glanced back at the untouched makeup bag on the duvet, my hesitation vanished.
I pressed call.
The phone rang once. Twice. Then a click sounded.
“Audrey?”
Hearing his voice made my chest tighten so painfully that for several seconds I couldn't form a single word. Tears welled in my eyes, burning hot against my swollen cheek.
“Dad,” I choked out, my voice cracking. “I need you.”
There was a brief, heavy silence on the line. I could hear the faint sound of wind through an open window in the background.
“Tell me where you are,” my father said, his voice instantly shifting into that grounded, immovable tone I remembered from my childhood.
“I’m at my townhouse,” I replied, swallowing hard. “Julian left for work. But he’s coming back at noon with his mother.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“I’m leaving right now,” Thomas Bennett said firmly. “Pack a bag with your essential documents. Do not touch anything else. I’ll be there in forty minutes.”
After he hung up, I sat on the edge of the mattress for a moment, taking my first deep breath in hours.
I didn't waste time panicking. I retrieved a small suitcase from the back of the closet, packed my clothes, my passport, my financial ledgers, and my laptops. I rolled the suitcase down the stairs and walked it directly out to the front porch, hiding it out of sight behind the decorative cedar privacy screen near the driveway.
May you like
Then I walked back inside, sat down in the armchair facing the front door, and looked at the clock on the mantel.
Julian had made one fatal error that morning: he had given me an exact deadline for his return.
