Chapter 13 - THE LAST TIME HE TRIED TO CONTROL THE STORY
Grant claimed it was a coincidence.
Of course he did.
He said he had been driving through the area.
He said he didn’t know Brooke was there.
He said the police were harassing him because his wife had lied.
But investigators found something in his car.
A printed map.
A handwritten address.
The safe address.
Brooke went silent when Caroline told us.
“How did he get it?”
Nobody knew.
Not yet.
The location had been shared with very few people.
The advocate.
Caroline.
Police.
Me.
Rachel.
Brooke.
Then Rachel remembered something.
“Your old phone.”
Brooke looked at her.
“What?”
“The one Grant paid for.”
Brooke frowned.
“I stopped using it.”
“Where is it?”
“In my suitcase.”
We turned it over.
A technician later found that one of Brooke’s accounts was still connected to devices Grant had access to.
He hadn’t needed a spy movie.
He hadn’t needed a private investigator.
He needed one password she hadn’t changed.
That realization shook Brooke.
Then it made her furious.
“I am so tired of him living inside my life.”
So she took it back piece by piece.
New phone.
New number.
New email.
Frozen credit.
Changed accounts.
New passwords.
A security system at my house.
A new job arrangement that kept her location private.
It wasn’t dramatic.
It was paperwork.
Calls.
Forms.
Passwords.
Meetings.
But every boring little step mattered.
Months passed.
The criminal case moved slowly.
Brooke hated that.
Real life did not move like television.
There were delays.
Hearings.
Continuances.
Arguments over evidence.
Grant’s attorney challenged recordings.
Challenged messages.
Challenged timelines.
Grant kept wearing good suits.
Diane kept sitting behind him.
But Brooke changed too.
She stopped shrinking when he entered a room.
At one hearing, Grant turned toward her.
He smiled.
That old smile.
The one that used to make her lower her eyes.
Brooke stared right back.
He looked away first.
Afterward, she stood in the courthouse bathroom and cried.
“I thought I’d feel strong.”
“You were strong.”
“I was terrified.”
“Those can happen at the same time.”
She laughed through tears.
“You sound like Caroline.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Then came the hearing that changed everything.
Mark testified.
Against his brother.
Diane looked like she had been slapped.
Mark described financial records.
Hidden drives.
The box of surveillance material.
He admitted he had ignored warning signs because he didn’t want to betray his family.
Then the prosecutor asked him one final question.
“Did Grant ever tell you why he kept information about Brooke’s mother?”
Mark hesitated.
Grant stared at him.
Diane shook her head.
Slowly.
A warning.
Mark looked at her.
Then at Brooke.
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Mark swallowed.
“He said Linda was Brooke’s emergency exit.”
The courtroom went still.
“What did he mean?”
“He said if he wanted complete control over Brooke…”
May you like
Mark’s voice cracked.
“…he had to close the exit.”
