Chapter 5 - The Hysterical Mother-in-Law
Two hours passed in an agonizing blur.
In Munich, it was now past two in the morning. I was sitting on my hotel bed, completely packed, having already booked the earliest emergency flight out of Frankfurt at six a.m. My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I frantically refreshed my flight confirmation and paced the small carpeted room like a caged animal.
Suddenly, my phone screen lit up. It wasn't my father. It was Evelyn.
I stared at her caller ID for two whole rings, bile rising in the back of my throat, before swiping violently across the screen to answer.
""How dare you call me,"" I spat before she could even utter a syllable.
""Valerie! Oh, thank heaven you answered! Valerie, you have to help us!"" Evelyn burst into hysterical, hyperventilating sobs. The refined, condescending woman who had spent seventeen years subtly insulting my cooking, my career, and my family was completely gone. She sounded shattered, terrified, and utterly desperate. ""Please! Make your father stop! He is an absolute monster! He’s going to ruin everything!""
""My father is a hero who saved Sadie’s life from two disgusting abusers!"" I yelled, tears of fury spilling over my cheeks. ""Where is Sadie?! Did the paramedics take her?!""
""Sadie is fine! She’s at Nationwide Children’s Hospital with your father! They said she has mild frostbite on two toes and hypothermia, but she’s going to recover!"" Evelyn cried, brushing off my daughter's agony as if it were a minor inconvenience. ""Valerie, listen to me! That isn't the problem! Your father had the police seize Trevor's computers! He wouldn't let Trevor leave the house! He called federal investigators! He called the FBI, Valerie! Over a silly family argument!""
I stopped dead in my tracks. ""What did you just say?""
""He called the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI financial crimes unit!"" Evelyn shrieked, her voice cracking into high-pitched panic. ""They have Trevor in handcuffs down at the precinct! They won't let him post bail! They’re impounding his car, freezing our family trust accounts, and your father is standing in the police station treating the detectives like his personal platoon! Valerie, Trevor is your husband! If he goes to prison, your family’s reputation is destroyed! You will lose your house! You will lose everything!""
""Why would the FBI care about a domestic dispute, Evelyn?"" I demanded, my mind racing as cold realization washed over me. ""What was on those hard drives? What was Trevor doing in that office?!""
""It was just... it was an investment strategy!"" Evelyn sobbed, her words stumbling over each other in sheer guilt. ""He was trying to secure our future! He only needed a few more weeks to finalize the offshore transfers! That’s why he wanted you in Germany for six weeks, Valerie! He needed you out of the country so you wouldn't notice the signature authorizations on the marital accounts! But Sadie... that little brat saw him! She saw the paperwork on the printer! She asked questions, and she took one of the thumb drives to play with! That’s why Trevor got angry with her! He had to get that drive back!""
The world tilted beneath my feet.
Trevor hadn't pushed Sadie out into the freezing cold over spilled juice. Spilled juice was the cover story he had beaten into her head. Sadie had stumbled onto something massive, something dangerous enough that Trevor had literally locked his own flesh and blood out in an Arctic storm to protect his crimes.
""You knew,"" I whispered, the sheer depravity of it turning my blood to ice. ""You knew he was stealing from me, and you stood by while he tortured our daughter to cover his tracks.""
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""Valerie, please, we can fix this! If you call your father and tell him to drop the charges, the police will let Trevor go on bail! We can settle this as a family—""
""Burn in hell, Evelyn,"" I said, and hung up the phone.
