Chapter 44 Daphne

I run to the guest room and grab the bag I've already packed from under the bed, throw on jeans and a sweater, doing my best to ignore the obscenities Jackson is yelling from the bedroom. Fortunately, there's no one to hear him, and the size of the house and grounds are large enough to ensure there are no close neighbors to investigate. I fly down the stairs, rush into his study, and grab the keys to his Mercedes. I lock the front door, jump in the car, and roar out of the driveaway. Once I'm off the street, I pull over and call Meredith.

"I'm on my way. Meet me at the train station." After I end the call, I text her the recording I took at dinner with Jackson's confession. I mentally prepare for my conversation with the girls. Tallulah is old enough to understand, but I'm very concerned about Bella having to hear the harsh truth. Meredith will have prepared them somewhat, but it will be up to me to give them the whole story, or at least as much of it as I think they can handle while still conveying the necessity of this rash action.

It's close to eleven when I pull into the mostly deserted parking lot. Meredith is waiting for me, the kids are still in her car. I park, put the keys under the mat, and shut the door.

"I've been a nervous wreck," she says, pulling me into a hug.

"How are the girls?"

"Upset. As you can imagine. I told them that Jackson and Amber were responsible for what happened at the beach, but that's all."

I nod.

She hands me a set of keys. "Here you go. It's the blue Honda Civic right there." She points. "Untraceable to you and there's a map with stops along the way. Also, some clothes, baseball caps, toiletries. Try to stay out of sight as much as possible. Airbnbs have been booked and the codes for each are all in the folder in the car. Burner phones and cash too."

"Thank you. Jackson's going to be furious with you, you know. I don't know what he might do when he comes to pick up Jax. Once the staff shows up tomorrow and finds him…"

"Don't worry about me. Just be safe. I'll take the recording to the lawyers."

"I hope it's enough," I say.

"Just stay hidden until you get my message. I'll save it as a draft in the Gmail account. The burner is already logged into the account. Just don't send anything from it. Remember to save any message as an email in the draft folder," Meredith says.

I shake my head. "I feel like I'm in an espionage movie. How do you know all this?"

"I had help."

She returns to her car and the girls come out. Bella runs to me and hugs me; Tallulah just stares.

"Come on," I say. They follow me to the car, and we get in. Bella, used to being relegated to the back, automatically gets in behind the driver's side. I'm surprised when Tallulah gets in next to her, but I say nothing.

"Buckle up."

We pull out of the parking lot, and I blow out a pent-up breath.

"I'm so sorry for all this," I start.

"Aunt Meredith said that Dad drugged your drink and lied to the police," Bella says. "Why did he do that?"

"It's a very long story and one that I had hoped not to tell either of you for a long time. Your father is a sick man. I should have never brought you back here, but—"

"I made you," Tallulah says, her voice strained. "It's all my fault. If I had listened to you, none of this would have happened but I believed her." She's crying now.

"It's not your fault, honey. Believed who?"

"Amber. When I got in touch last year so I could call Dad in prison, she told me that you were angry at him for leaving you and that you'd made him out to be a bad person. She said that you and Dad had been unhappy for a long time but that you still couldn't forgive him for leaving you, so you took us away. I'm sorry, Mom. I should never have listened to her."

I bite back my anger at Amber and focus on my daughter. "I want you to listen to me, Tallulah. None of this is your fault. Amber is a good liar, she's as sick as your father, and trust me, she fools most people. For a while, she fooled me too. It's only natural that you would want a relationship with your father, and you had no way of knowing the truth about him because I protected you from that. The important thing is that we're getting away from him, and I'm going to prove what he did."

"You tried to tell me. But I wouldn't listen."

"Sweetie, please. I know you think you're all grown up, but you're still a child. It's not your fault. Please believe that."

"What if they take us away from you and we have to live with him?" Bella asks.

My hand tightens on the steering wheel. "I will never let that happen. We have to get far away from here now, and people are working to help us. You have to trust me. We'll be driving all night. No one will be looking for us until tomorrow so we'll get a good lead, but then there will be a lot of people with our pictures searching for us."

"I'm scared," Bella says.

"I know, baby, I know. But it's going to be okay. I promise."

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

Tallulah's voice is small. "Did he abuse you?"

I sigh. "He was abusive, yes. He didn't beat me up, but he was abusive in other ways."

"Why did you marry him?" she asks.

"I didn't know until it was too late. I thought he was wonderful at first. He swept me off my feet. He charmed my family, made me feel like the most special person in the world. By the time he showed his true colors, I couldn't get away." I think about how to frame the rest of it. Tallulah already feels responsible for our situation; if I tell her that the reason I came back was to protect her, it will destroy her. I need to give them a version of the truth that helps them understand why I couldn't leave but doesn't place any burden on them. "Girls, listen. I still think this is too much for you to hear right now. It's enough that you understand that I did what I had to do until I was finally able to get away from him. We can talk more about everything together with Dr. Marshall once we're back home. All you need to know is that I love you with every fiber of my being and I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure you are both safe and out of his reach forever." I only hope it's a promise I can keep.