Chapter 6: Richard Fights Back
He called at seven-fifteen in the morning.
Sarah's phone was on the kitchen counter.
She saw his name on the screen and let it ring four times before she answered.
Grace was already at the table with coffee.
"Put it on speaker," Grace said quietly.
Sarah did.
"Sarah." Richard's voice was controlled.
Careful.
The voice he used when he wanted to sound reasonable.
"I need you to listen to me."
"I'm listening."
"Last night got out of hand.
I understand that.
But before this goes any further, I think we owe it to Ethan to handle this as adults."
"He's twelve," Sarah said.
"He heard everything last night.
That's on you."
"Which is exactly why I'm calling.
I don't want him caught in the middle of a legal process that will take years and cost both of us everything we have."
"What are you proposing?"
A pause.
"Come home.
We talk.
We reach an agreement privately, without attorneys, without courts.
You keep the house.
I keep the business accounts.
We share Ethan — something reasonable, something he can live with.
And we put last night behind us."
Grace wrote one word on the legal pad and turned it to face Sarah: NO.
Sarah already knew.
"You forged my signature on a property transfer, Richard."
"That was a mistake in paperwork.
It can be corrected."
"You locked me in a passage behind your wine rack for three days."
"You were hysterical.
I was trying to—"
"I was not hysterical," Sarah said.
"I was calm.
I told you I was leaving and I told you I was taking Ethan, and you locked the door."
Silence.
"The recordings," he said.
"You can't use those."
"My attorney disagrees."
His voice changed.
The careful tone dropped an inch.
"Sarah.
I'm trying to give you a way out of this that doesn't destroy our son's life."
"Ethan's life is not going to be destroyed by the truth," she said.
"It was going to be destroyed by the plan you made with Carla Voss."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
"Carla has nothing to do with this."
"She has your signature on a document transferring our home to her name.
She has quite a lot to do with this."
"If you push this," Richard said, and now the careful voice was gone entirely, "I will make sure every court in this county knows about your mental health history.
I will make sure Ethan's teachers, his school counselor, every person who has contact with that boy knows that his mother is unstable.
I will spend whatever it takes."
Grace's hand was flat on the table.
She didn't move.
Sarah looked at the phone.
"You have a mental health history on file from eight years ago," Richard continued.
"One hospitalization.
Two weeks.
I have the records."
"Those records are sealed."
"For now."
"Richard," Sarah said.
"I want you to listen to me carefully.
You just made a threat on a recorded line.
My attorney is sitting across from me.
This call has been documented from the moment I answered." She paused.
"Thank you."
The line went quiet.
"You think you've won something," he said.
"I think you just handed me something useful," she said.
"That's all."
He hung up.
Grace exhaled slowly.
She picked up her pen and made a note at the bottom of the legal pad, then underlined it twice.
"He mentioned the hospitalization," Sarah said.
"I should have told you about that."
"Tell me now."
"Eight years ago.
Postpartum.
Ethan was four months old.
I was admitted for two weeks and discharged with a clean bill of health.
I have never had another incident."
"Do you have documentation of the discharge and follow-up care?"
"In the folder," Sarah said.
"Third drawer.
Behind the handwriting report."
Grace looked at her.
"You prepared for this too," Grace said.
"I prepared for everything I could think of," Sarah said.
"I tried to think the way he thinks."
Grace nodded slowly.
"He's going to move fast now.
He knows you're organized and he knows you're not frightened.
That makes him more dangerous, not less."
"I know."
"Is there anyone he could use against you?
Anyone close to Ethan who might be pressured?"
Sarah thought for a moment.
"His school," she said.
"His teacher, Mr.
Calloway.
Richard has donated to the school twice.
Significant amounts."
Grace wrote the name down.
"I'll make a call Monday," she said.
"Quietly."
Upstairs, footsteps.
Ethan was awake.
Sarah stood and moved to the bottom of the stairs.
"Morning," she called up.
A pause.
Then: "Is he going to try to take me?"
Sarah looked at Grace.
Grace gave her a small, steady nod.
"He's going to try," Sarah called back.
"But trying and getting are two very different things."
Another pause.
"Okay," Ethan said.
His footsteps moved toward the bathroom.
Sarah turned back to the table.
She sat down.
She picked up her coffee.
"He asked me that before he fell asleep last night," she said.
"I told him the same thing."
"And he believed you?"
"He wants to," Sarah said.
"That's enough for now."
Grace's phone buzzed on the table.
She looked at the screen.
"It's the officer from last night," she said.
"She wants to meet this morning."
Sarah set down the coffee.
May you like
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"It means," Grace said, already standing, "that they found something."
