Chapter 6 - THE DOOR
“Call 911.”
Natalie was already dialing.
On the camera, Ryan knocked.
“Claire.”
I didn’t answer.
He knocked again.
“I know you’re inside.”
Megan had gone home earlier, but Natalie was with me.
She grabbed a fireplace poker.
I stared at her.
“What are you planning to do with that?”
“Motivate him to leave.”
“Put it down.”
“Fine.”
She didn’t.
Ryan knocked harder.
“I just want to talk.”
I spoke through the security system.
“Leave.”
His face turned toward the camera.
“There she is.”
“You’re violating the protection order.”
“A temporary order based on lies.”
“Leave.”
He held up my passport.
“You want this back?”
My hands shook.
Natalie whispered, “Don’t engage.”
Ryan smiled at the camera.
“Ask Natalie what really happened in our marriage.”
She stiffened.
“Ask her why she stayed married to me.”
I muted the microphone.
“What does he mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Natalie.”
“Not now.”
Outside, Ryan tried the door handle.
Locked.
Then the side gate rattled.
My blood froze.
“Police are coming.”
Ryan disappeared from the camera.
I switched feeds.
Backyard.
Nothing.
Garage.
Nothing.
Then I heard a sound upstairs.
A soft thump.
Natalie looked toward the ceiling.
“No.”
We both backed toward the front door.
Another noise.
Inside the house.
I whispered, “How?”
Then I remembered.
Ryan had installed the smart locks.
Ryan knew the alarm code.
Ryan had hidden things from me for years.
Why would I assume I knew every way into the house?
I unlocked the front door.
Natalie and I stepped onto the porch just as a police cruiser turned onto the street.
An officer ran toward us.
“Where is he?”
“Inside.”
Three officers entered.
For two minutes, we heard nothing.
Then a shout.
“Police! Show me your hands!”
A crash.
Another shout.
Natalie grabbed my hand.
Finally, they brought Ryan out through the front door.
His lip was bleeding.
His hands were cuffed.
He looked at me and smiled again.
“You really want to do this?”
I stared at him.
“You did this.”
As they pushed him toward the patrol car, he twisted around.
“Natalie knows.”
She went rigid beside me.
He laughed.
“She knows where the money came from.”
I looked at her.
Her face was white.
Ryan kept shouting.
“Ask her about Denver!”
The officer shoved him into the back seat.
I turned to Natalie.
“What happened in Denver?”
She stared at the ground.
“Claire.”
“What happened in Denver?”
She closed her eyes.
“Ryan and I owned a house there.”
“So?”
“We didn’t lose it in the divorce.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We never sold it.”
The words hit me slowly.
“You still own another house?”
“Not anymore.”
“Then where did the money go?”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“I gave Ryan access to the proceeds.”
“How much?”
She whispered the number.
“Four hundred and twenty thousand dollars.”
I stepped back.
“You gave him four hundred thousand dollars?”
“I didn’t know what he was doing.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Three years.
The same year Ryan married me.
Natalie wiped her face.
“He told me he needed the money to settle business debts before our divorce could be finalized.”
I laughed bitterly.
“The divorce that never happened.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t know.”
I felt fury rising.
“You came into my house acting like you were another victim, but you knew he was moving huge amounts of money.”
“I didn’t know about you.”
“What else don’t I know?”
She opened her mouth.
May you like
Then stopped.
And that told me there was more.
