Chapter 8
But Mom and Dad weren’t scared at all:
“Scared of what?”
“Exactly! The one who should be embarrassed is David Blackwell! That lying piece of shit! Our family has nothing to hide. We’re getting the justice we deserve!”
Helen linked her arm through mine, totally fired up.
“He’s the one in the wrong! The more you back down, the more he’ll walk all over you! This time you’ve got us, and my brother. We’re gonna destroy him!”
A few days later.
Steven got a phone call and his face went dark immediately.
‘Steven, what’s wrong?” Helen asked, picking up on it right away.
Steven’s brow was furrowed:
There’s some trouble at the factory. Someone reported us for exceeding pollution standards. It’s already blowing up online, aying we’re destroying the environment.”
Helen jumped up:
How’s that even possible? Our environmental standards have always been the best in the industry! Someone’s just making hit up!”
My heart sank. I took a deep breath and made the call.
David’s smug voice came through:
Well, well, Ms. Blackwell finally decided to call me?”
The thing with Steven’s factory-that was you, wasn’t it?!”
‘Rachel, this is just the beginning. You teamed up with outsiders to back me into a corner. You should’ve seen this coming!”
‘You’re disgusting!” I was shaking with rage.
“I’m disgusting?” His voice shot up, full of venom,
“You betrayed me first! You destroyed everything I had!”
He paused, then his tone suddenly got all gentle:
“Rachel, just apologize in public and get the Colemans to drop the case. I might think about forgiving you-maybe not divorce you.”
“Not divorcing me?”
Chapter 8
I almost laughed at how shameless he was being.
“That’s right!”
His voice had this crazy, possessive edge, like I was still that same Rachel he could push around.
“Just come back, admit you were wrong publicly, and we can go back to how things used to be…”
“David, you fucking asshole! Keep dreaming!”
Helen came charging over out of nowhere, grabbed my phone, and started screaming into it:
“Who the hell do you think you are!
“My girl marrying you was the WORST FUCKING LUCK ever! And you think she’s gonna come back and take care of you? And your miscarried side piece? Take a good look at yourself you piece of TRASH, YOU SCUM, FUCK YOU!”
Helen went off like a machine gun. All we could hear from David’s end was heavy breathing.
After Helen finished ripping him apart, she didn’t wait for him to respond and just slammed the phone down.
‘Rachel, don’t waste a single word on that piece of shit!”
I handed the recording of my call with David over to the lawyer.
The lawyer listened carefully and frowned:
‘Ms. Blackwell, the recording has him admitting his motives and that he wanted revenge, but he doesn’t flat-out admit he set ip the factory pollution. As direct evidence, this is pretty weak.”
I felt a bit disappointed.
‘It’s okay.”
Steven looked at me, his eyes gentle but determined:
‘My factory’s got all the legit environmental permits, and our testing processes are open. The results will be out soon. Rumors fall apart when faced with facts.”
‘Steven, Helen,”
I felt so guilty,
“Because of my mess, I’ve caused you guys so much trouble…”
“Don’t be silly!”
Helen hugged my shoulders warmly. “We’re family, after all. Right now, the main thing is helping you win this divorce-getting rid of that scumbag once and for all!”
A few days later, on some book discussion livestream.
David looked completely wrecked as he choked up in front of the camera:
Chapter 8
“During this time, I’ve been through the darkest moment of my life.”
“But I still believe in love, my wife Rachel…”
“I want to tell her, I was too busy before and ignored your feelings. No matter how long you’ve been away, you always have to
come home…”
The TV screen suddenly went black.
Helen angrily turned off the TV:
“Steven, are we really just gonna sit here and take this?”
“A scumbag like this needs to get what he deserves!”
I was still replaying what I’d just seen in my head.
He’d talked emotional about their past happiness, making himself out to be this devoted, loving husband.
He even hinted that “outside forces” had destroyed their marriage.
I took a deep breath:
‘Haven’t you guys noticed Emma disappeared after her miscarriage?”
‘With her drama-queen personality, she’d definitely be out there playing the victim. Why haven’t we seen any sign of her?”
