Chapter 5 - The Woman He Took With Him
Julianne was no longer standing beside David.
She had moved across the room.
That distance mattered.
David noticed it too.
“Julianne.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”
David gave her a warning look.
She laughed bitterly.
“Is that supposed to scare me?”
Agent Cole stepped between them.
“Ms. Cross, you will have an opportunity to speak with investigators.”
Julianne looked at the USB drive.
“I want an attorney.”
“That would be wise.”
She swallowed.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not at this moment.”
David interrupted.
“She doesn’t know anything.”
Julianne turned on him.
“You put that drive in my luggage.”
David said nothing.
“You specifically told me customs would be easier if I carried the designer bags.”
I watched her realize the truth piece by piece.
The yacht.
The gifts.
The first-class tickets.
The shopping.
David had wrapped a criminal plan inside a romantic vacation.
“You were using me.”
David scoffed.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
That was the phrase he always used when a woman’s emotions became inconvenient.
Julianne’s face changed.
“You told me Maya was using Lily to manipulate you.”
My chest tightened.
David looked at me.
“That’s not what I said.”
Julianne continued.
“You said Maya invented emergencies whenever you tried to leave.”
I walked toward her.
“What else did he say?”
“Maya.”
David’s voice sharpened.
I ignored him.
Julianne stared at the floor.
“He said you were obsessed with your daughter.”
I nearly lost control then.
Not because loving Lily was an accusation.
Because David had taken the best thing about me and used it as evidence that I was defective.
Julianne whispered.
“He said Lily had made you weak.”
David shouted.
“Enough.”
Agent Cole motioned to the troopers.
They moved David toward the door.
He resisted.
“Maya, don’t let them take me like this.”
I stared at him.
“Lily begged me not to let the doctors take her into another procedure without you.”
His face collapsed.
“I had to hold her hand alone.”
David looked away.
“I had to tell her you loved her when I wasn’t sure anymore whether you did.”
“Maya.”
“I had to choose her burial dress alone.”
He started crying.
I had once believed David’s tears could break me.
They no longer could.
Agent Cole opened the door.
Before David crossed the threshold, Julianne called out.
“There’s another phone.”
Everyone stopped.
David turned slowly.
Julianne’s hands shook.
“He had two phones on the yacht.”
Agent Cole faced her.
“Where is the second one?”
“I don’t know.”
“He kept it locked inside the master cabin safe.”
David’s expression revealed everything.
Agent Cole immediately spoke into his radio.
Julianne continued.
“He used it every night.”
“For what?”
She looked at David.
“He said he was checking stock prices.”
Agent Cole’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at David.
“The yacht crew found the safe.”
David went completely still.
Agent Cole’s next words made even Julianne step backward.
May you like
“And they found the second phone.”
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