Chapter 6 - The Midnight Call
That night, the rain in Port Angeles turned into a steady coastal fog. Nora sat at her kitchen table, sipping hot broth while reviewing the legal filings on her encrypted laptop. Her phone lit up with an unrecognized number.
She hesitated, then answered, placing it on speaker.
“Nora...” Julian’s voice cracked through the static, thick with tears and alcohol. “Please. Just listen to me for sixty seconds.”
Nora did not speak. She let the silence stretch, cold and unyielding.
“I didn’t know,” Julian sobbed. “I swear on my life, Nora. I had no idea what Camille and my mother did. I thought it was just business... I thought Camille was just... God, I was so stupid. I threw away our life for nothing.”
“You didn’t throw away our life for nothing, Julian,” Nora said, her voice striking like a sharpened blade. “You threw it away for convenience. You liked being worshipped. You liked the flattery. You took my silence for granted and mistook my loyalty for weakness.”
“I’ll give you everything,” Julian begged. “I’ll testify against them. I’ll sign over every asset, every property, every dollar. Just let me be a father. Don’t cut me out of our baby’s life.”
May you like
Nora touched her stomach, feeling the tiny, miraculous flutter of life inside her. “You spent seven years letting your mother dictate your spine, Julian. A child needs a protector, not a bystander. When you’re ready to tell the Department of Justice the whole truth under oath, maybe Marcus will allow you to send a letter through our legal trust. Until then, you are just a stranger who used to share my name.”
She ended the call and powered down the device, locking out the noise of the world she had outgrown.
