Still there.
Still safe.
I pressed two fingers to the tiny black-and-white shape.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Then I corrected myself.
“No. I’m getting us out.”
The next morning, Ryan called seventeen times.
I did not answer.
His messages began with apology.
I’m sorry Dad went too far.
Then explanation.
You know how he gets when he feels disrespected.
Then blame.
Calling the police was extreme.
Then tenderness.
I love you and the baby more than anything.
Then anger.
You are destroying this family.
The cycle fit into less than four hours.
The social worker had warned me it might.
I saved every message and forwarded them to my attorney.
That afternoon, I filed for a protective order.
I also changed the access codes to the penthouse and sent written notice through counsel that Grant and Diane were not permitted inside.
Ryan’s attorney objected to almost everything.
The judge looked at the still image of Ryan holding my wrists and granted temporary protections while the case proceeded.
I had imagined that moment would feel victorious.
It felt like grief with paperwork.
I was divorcing the man I had once trusted most in the world.
I was carrying his child.
Both facts could be true at once.
Brooke became the first Bennett to visit me.
She came to Maya’s apartment two weeks later and stood in the doorway holding a grocery bag.
“I brought food,” she said.
I looked inside.
Crackers. Apples. Ginger tea. Plain pasta. Everything I had been able to tolerate during the pregnancy.
“You remembered.”
She nodded.
Then she held out a small flash drive.
“The original video. The metadata is intact. My lawyer said I should give you a copy.”
I took it.
“Thank you.”
She did not ask me to forgive her.
Instead, she said, “I told the investigators the truth about other things too.”
“What other things?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Dad grabbing Mom’s arm. Ryan breaking a door after an argument. Dad taking my phone when I was nineteen because I tried to leave a family dinner.”
I felt cold.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Brooke gave a hollow laugh. “Same reason you didn’t tell Maya.”
I hated that she was right.
