Chapter 3 - THE FUGITIVE'S DESPERATIONThree days later, I was discharged from the hospital, holding baby Leo tightly against my chest as Diana escorted me to a secure safe house provided by the federal government.
While the media storm outside was reaching apocalyptic proportions—headlines blaring “LUXURY WEDDING RAIDED: STERLING DYNASTY COLLAPSES IN MULTI-MILLION FRAUD SCANDAL” and “ELITE FAMILY ARRESTED AMID GLAMOROUS RECEPTION”—Julian was still a ghost.
Until the burner phone in Diana’s pocket buzzed violently.
We were sitting in the quiet, sterile kitchen of the safe house. Leo was sleeping peacefully in a portable bassinet beside us. Diana answered the call, put it on speaker, and slid it to the center of the wooden table.
“Audrey?”
The voice was ragged, exhausted, and laced with sheer panic.
Julian.
I didn’t speak immediately. I let the silence stretch, listening to the heavy, desperate sound of his breathing on the other end of the line.
“Audrey, please pick up. I know you’re there,” Julian pleaded, his voice breaking. “Please, babe. You have to help me. The police... the feds... they took everything. Mom and Seraphina are locked up in holding cells downtown. They won't even grant them bail.”
“Good,” I said coldly.
A sharp intake of breath on the other end. “Audrey, don’t talk like that. We’re married. We’re a family. You have to talk to the U.S. Attorney. Tell them it was a mistake. Tell them the forensic files were forged by someone else!”
“Forged?” I let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Julian, I audited every single byte of data. Your signature is right there. Not just one. Hundreds. You actively participated in draining public infrastructure funds to pay for Seraphina’s wedding and your mother’s extravagant vanity projects.”
“I had to!” Julian shouted, his desperation cracking into anger. “You don’t understand how this family works! My mother pressured me! She said if I didn’t sign, I’d be cut out of the estate entirely! I did it for us! For our future!”
“For our future?” My voice dropped to a razor-sharp whisper. “Is that why your mother locked me in a bridal suite bathroom while I was in premature labor? Is that why you stood outside the door and told me to give it ten minutes so I wouldn't ruin your sister’s precious Instagram wedding?”
Silence fell over the line. Heavy, suffocating silence.
“Audrey... I... I didn’t want Mom to do that,” Julian stammered weakly. “My hands were tied.”
“Your hands were tied,” I repeated, shaking my head in disgust. “You left your wife and your premature child locked in a room like garbage because you were more afraid of your mother than of your own child dying. And now you expect me to throw away my career, my integrity, and my life to bail you out?”
“Audrey, listen to me!” Julian screamed, panic returning full force. “If you don’t fix this, I’m looking at twenty years in federal prison! You can’t do this to me! I’m your husband!”
“Not anymore, Julian,” I said steadily. “My lawyer will be serving you with divorce papers as soon as the marshals catch up with you. And trust me—they are closing in right now.”
“Audrey, wait! Don’t hang up—!”
I tapped the screen, cutting the call dead.
Diana looked across the table, a proud, fierce grin playing on her lips. “Well handled, Counselor. Location trace is locked. He’s calling from an abandoned warehouse near the docks in New Jersey. Tactical team is twenty seconds away.”
May you like
I looked down at the bassinet, watching Leo’s chest rise and fall in a steady, peaceful rhythm.
“Go get him,” I said.
