Chapter 5 - A Night in the Car
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I walked out of the clinic just past midnight, a thick plastic splint immobilizing my broken finger and a bottle of prescription painkillers sitting heavy in my pocket. I didn't drive to a hotel. I didn't call a friend. I couldn't risk leaving a paper trail or answering concerned questions.
Instead, I drove to a massive, twenty-four-hour pharmacy parking lot a few miles from my house. I parked under the glaring, harsh white glow of a massive sodium streetlamp, turned the engine off, and locked the doors. The autumn chill slowly seeped through the glass, seeping into my bones, but the cold kept my mind razor-sharp.
I reclined the driver’s seat, pulling my knees to my chest to protect my bruised thigh. I opened my phone and tapped on the security app linked to the doorbell camera at my house.
I sat there in the freezing darkness and watched the live feed of my own home.
At exactly 4:18 a.m., the motion sensor alert chimed softly in the silent car. I watched the grainy, black-and-white night vision footage as a local locksmith arrived on my porch. Owen stood beside him in a thick sweater, calmly directing the man to drill out the old brass deadbolts and install brand new, heavy-duty locks. He was deliberately locking me out of the house my grandmother had left me.
At 4:47 a.m., a sleek black luxury SUV pulled into my driveway. The camera captured Dana Vale stepping out, dragging three large, expensive suitcases behind her. Owen met her at the door, kissing her deeply before carrying her luggage over the threshold.
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Before the sun even began to rise over the Chicago skyline, I watched through the front window feed as they casually popped open another bottle of champagne right in the middle of my kitchen.
They thought they had won. They thought I was just a weak, humiliated housewife weeping in a cheap motel room, entirely powerless to stop them from taking my home and my life. They had absolutely no idea that they had just handed a veteran forensic accountant the exact motivation needed to burn their entire world to ashes.
