Chapter 10 - THE GROUP CHAT
Megan contacted me on the fifth day.
At first, I refused the call.
She tried again.
Then she sent one message.
I have something you need to see.
I showed Rebecca.
“Let her send it.”
What arrived was not one screenshot.
It was twenty-three.
The Morgan family group chat.
The conversation began twelve minutes after they left me.
Deborah wrote first.
She’ll survive.
Harold replied with a laughing emoji.
Then Megan wrote.
She looked pretty bad.
Deborah answered.
Good.
Maybe she’ll finally learn that the world doesn’t stop every time she gets uncomfortable.
My stomach turned.
Then Travis entered the conversation.
Stop.
Mom replied.
What?
You know she uses pregnancy to control you.
Travis responded.
I know.
Then came the message that changed everything.
Harold wrote.
If she calls an ambulance, make her pay for it herself.
Deborah replied.
She won’t.
She doesn’t even have the new insurance card.
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
Rebecca leaned closer.
“What insurance card?”
My hands went numb.
Three weeks earlier, Travis had changed our health insurance plan through his employer.
He had told me the new cards had not arrived.
I suddenly remembered seeing an envelope from the insurance company on the kitchen counter.
Then it disappeared.
I stared at Rebecca.
“I think Travis had it.”
She asked Megan to send more.
The next screenshot arrived.
A photograph.
Travis was holding my new insurance card at the mall food court.
Deborah had taken the picture.
Under it she wrote.
Look who controls the emergency now.
I felt physically sick.
Rebecca’s expression hardened.
“This is no longer only about bad judgment.”
Detective Ross received the screenshots within minutes.
Megan eventually called me.
She was crying.
“I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I should have stayed.”
“Yes.”
“I knew you were hurting.”
“Yes.”
“I just didn’t think…”
“That’s the problem.”
My voice remained calm.
“None of you thought.”
Megan sobbed.
Then she whispered something.
“There’s more.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“What more?”
“Mom didn’t just want the mall.”
“She wanted Travis to leave you on purpose.”
“Why?”
“Because you told her she couldn’t stay with you after the babies were born.”
The answer landed slowly.
Two days before labor, I had finally told Deborah she could not move into our house for three months after the twins arrived.
She had been furious.
Megan continued.
“She said you needed to understand who really mattered to Travis.”
I stared at the wall.
And suddenly I understood.
May you like
My labor had not inconvenienced Deborah.
It had given her an opportunity.
