Chapter 9 - Rebecca Chose a Side
Rebecca arrived at the police station voluntarily the next morning.
She brought her phone.
Her laptop.
And a confession.
Evelyn had asked her to enter Ryan's house.
Not to hurt anyone.
To leave the photograph.
“Why?” Ryan asked.
Rebecca cried.
“Because she said Maya needed to understand what she was doing.”
“You broke into my house?”
“I knew the old code.”
“My son was upstairs.”
“I didn't know you'd be home.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
Rebecca covered her face.
“I don't know who I am without Mom telling me what to do.”
Ryan stared at his sister.
For years, that sentence might have softened him.
Now he understood compassion didn't require removing consequences.
“Then find out.”
Rebecca cooperated.
She gave police messages from Evelyn.
Some were devastating.
Evelyn called Maya “the obstacle.”
Oliver “the legacy.”
Ryan “emotionally compromised.”
Not once did she speak about any of them like people.
Then Rebecca showed them a voice message.
Evelyn:
“If Ryan refuses to see reason, we'll have to prove Maya is dangerous another way.”
Rebecca:
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn:
“Leave that to me.”
The timestamp was two days before the nursery attack.
Rebecca agreed to testify.
Evelyn called her from an attorney-monitored line after learning.
Rebecca answered.
Her mother said:
“You're dead to me.”
Rebecca cried after hanging up.
Ryan hugged her.
“She said the same thing to Dad when he tried to leave.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“What?”
Ryan gave her Charles's journal.
For the first time, both children learned the truth together.
May you like
And Evelyn lost the weapon she had relied on for decades.
Their ignorance.
