CHAPTER 2 — The Hidden Safe
CHAPTER 2 — The Hidden Safe
Blood trickled into my eye, warm and blinding.
I pressed my hand against my forehead, expecting my husband to finally turn around.
He didn't.
Blake was kneeling beside his mother.
"Mom... are you okay? Calm down."
Are you okay?
She had just smashed a ceramic plate into my face hard enough to split my skin open, and he was comforting her.
Mrs. Gable pointed at me with trembling fingers, putting on a perfect performance.
"Look what she made me do! She embarrassed this family in front of everyone."
Several relatives nodded.
Someone whispered, "She should've just signed the papers."
Another added, "Money changes people."
I looked around the backyard.
Not one person asked if I needed a doctor.
Not one.
Austin quietly bent down and picked up the loan documents before anyone could step on them.
That tiny movement caught my attention.
He wasn't worried about me.
He was worried about those papers.
Something about that chilled me.
The emergency room doctor needed six stitches.
"It's a miracle the plate missed your eye," he said.
Blake arrived nearly an hour later.
He didn't bring flowers.
He didn't apologize.
Instead, he sighed heavily.
"You really shouldn't have pushed Mom like that."
I stared at him.
"Pushed her?"
"You know how emotional she gets."
"She assaulted me."
"She didn't mean to."
The words hit harder than the plate.
For the first time in seven years of marriage...
I felt absolutely nothing.
No anger.
No sadness.
Just emptiness.
That night, Blake claimed he was going back to check on his mother.
"I'll stay with her until she calms down."
He kissed the air beside my cheek and left.
He didn't notice I never kissed him back.
Thirty minutes later my phone buzzed.
It wasn't a message.
It was a fraud alert from my bank.
Attempted login from an unrecognized device.
Time: 11:42 p.m.
I frowned.
I hadn't touched my banking app all evening.
I immediately changed my password.
Seconds later...
Another notification.
Password reset attempt failed.
Someone was trying again.
My heartbeat accelerated.
Who knew enough about my accounts to even try?
Only one person.
Blake.
I drove home instead of staying with my sister like I had planned.
The house was dark.
Too dark.
Blake's car wasn't outside.
So where was he?
As I stepped inside, I heard muffled voices coming from the garage.
The garage?
No one ever used it.
I quietly removed my shoes.
The voices became clearer.
"...she almost signed today."
Austin.
Then Mrs. Gable.
"We'll get another chance."
Then Blake.
"I'll convince her."
My heart stopped.
I slowly moved closer until I could see through the narrow opening in the door.
The three of them stood around an old metal safe.
Austin spun the combination lock.
Click.
The heavy door swung open.
Inside...
There weren't valuables.
There were folders.
Dozens of them.
Each one had a woman's name written across the front.
Emily.
Rachel.
Sophia.
Danielle.
And finally...
Mine.
MACKENZIE CARTER.
My blood turned cold.
Austin pulled my folder out and laughed.
"She's smarter than the last one."
Mrs. Gable smirked.
"Not smart enough."
Blake folded his arms.
"We've already isolated her from most of her friends."
My knees nearly gave out.
Isolated?
Mrs. Gable continued calmly.
"Next step is getting power of attorney. Once she's responsible for Austin's debt, the banks won't question transferring the rest."
Austin flipped through my file.
Every page contained copies of my pay stubs...
Tax returns...
My passport...
My social security records...
Even my signature.
Not copied.
Practiced.
Page after page after page.
Someone had spent months learning how to forge my handwriting.
Then Blake said something that shattered the last piece of my marriage.
"If this doesn't work..."
"...we'll do what we did to Emily."
Silence filled the garage.
Mrs. Gable smiled.
"It worked before."
Austin laughed.
"She never recovered financially."
My breathing became impossible.
Emily.
The first folder.
Not an accident.
Not an ex-girlfriend.
A victim.
And judging by the stack of folders inside that safe...
May you like
I wasn't the first woman this family had targeted.
I was simply the next.
