Chapter 16
Drea began beautifully.
She cried at the right moments.
She said she loved me.
She said she loved Calla.
She said Elise had always frightened her.
She said the pool house was a terrible mistake made in panic.
Then the prosecutor stood.
Her name was Mara Bell.
Small woman.
Quiet voice.
Sharp enough to cut glass.
She asked, “If you feared Elise, why did you disable the side-yard camera before she arrived?”
Drea blinked.
“I didn’t.”
Mara played footage from another camera.
Drea on a ladder.
Drea turning the lens.
Drea checking her phone.
“Is that you?”
Drea swallowed.
“Yes, but—”
“Why did you buy a stun gun three days before Elise arrived?”
“For protection.”
“Protection from someone whose letter you intercepted before she even knew the address?”
Drea’s face tightened.
Mara placed Elise’s letters on the screen.
One by one.
Then Calla’s missing unicorn.
Then the note.
Miss me yet?
A juror shook his head.
Drea’s mask cracked.
“She was taking everything,” she snapped.
Mara paused.
“Elise?”
Drea looked at me.
“All of them.”
The courtroom stilled.
“Mason was mine. Calla was starting to be mine. Then that woman comes back with her sad eyes and her perfect mother act.”
Elise stared at her.
Drea kept going, unable to stop.
“I built that home. I fixed his life. I raised that child while Elise disappeared into whatever breakdown she wanted to have.”
Calla flinched.
I put my arm around her.
Mara’s voice stayed calm.
“So you locked Elise in a pool house?”
Drea’s chest rose and fell.
“She should have stayed gone.”
There it was.
No panic.
No protection.
Only possession.
Mara asked one final question.
“And the trust?”
Drea looked at Grant.
Then at me.
Then at the jury.
“I deserved security.”
The courtroom changed.
You could feel it.
Like every lie had finally run out of oxygen.
The jury convicted her on all major counts.
Kidnapping.
Assault.
Forgery.
Fraud.
Child endangerment.
Attempted custodial interference.
Witness tampering.
Drea did not scream when the verdict came.
She stared at Calla.
Calla stared back.
Then my daughter turned away first.
May you like
Not in fear.
In freedom.
