Chapter 6 - The Broken Groom
At 3:00 p.m., my secure phone rang. The caller ID displayed an unlisted Manhattan number.
I answered without speaking.
"Evelyn?" Marcus’s shaky, desperate voice came through the speaker. "Evelyn, please... I need to talk to Maya. I need to explain—"
"You have thirty seconds to give me a reason why I shouldn't have federal marshals drag you out of your penthouse in handcuffs right now, Marcus," I said, my tone as cold as ice.
"I didn't know Celeste was going to hurt her!" Marcus sobbed into the phone, sounding like a terrified coward stripped of his wealth. "I tried to stop her, Evelyn! I swear I did! But my father and Celeste control all my trust funds! If I stood up to them, they would have cut me off!"
"My daughter was bleeding on my porch while you worried about your trust fund," I said quietly. "You stood by and watched your sister kick your wife and your unborn child. You are not a man, Marcus. You are a spineless coward hiding behind a family crest."
"Please... let me see her!" Marcus begged. "I love her, Evelyn! I’ll testify against Celeste! I’ll give you whatever you want! Just tell the Department of Justice to stop freezing my accounts! I can’t pay my lawyers!"
"Maya never wants to see your face again," I told him coldly. "And as for your money... you had better get used to sleeping on a steel cot, Marcus. Because by the time I’m finished with your family, you won't even be able to afford a public defender."
Before he could respond, I ended the call and tossed the burner phone into the disposal unit.
I walked down the hall to Maya’s room. She was sitting up in bed, wrapped in a warm cardigan, reading a medical chart detailing her baby's healthy growth markers.
When she saw me, she set the chart down and looked into my eyes.
"Was that Marcus?" she asked softly.
"Yes," I replied, sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Is he afraid?"
"He’s terrified," I said. "They all are."
May you like
Maya looked down at her hands, where her diamond wedding ring still sat on her finger. Slowly, deliberately, she pulled the ring off and set it on the nightstand beside a glass of water.
"Good," Maya said, her voice filled with a quiet, fierce resolve she had inherited directly from me. "Don't stop, Mom. Burn them all down."
