Chapter 2 - Rachel’s Empty Handbag

Rachel’s handbag was empty because she had expected to fill it.

That detail made Emily’s stomach turn colder than the burns.

Rachel had not come home with Ryan to check on her.

She had not come to apologize.

She had not come to ask whether Emily needed help.

She had come prepared to take.

A credit card.

A jewelry pouch.

Maybe the keys to the spare car.

Maybe cash from the drawer Ryan always pretended was his.

Rachel stood frozen near the open door in her pale-pink satin wrap dress, earrings trembling as her eyes moved from suitcase to suitcase.

“Where are your things?” she whispered.

Emily did not answer.

The officers did not move.

Ryan stared at the wedding ring resting on the police report.

That tiny circle of metal seemed to disturb him more than the uniformed men.

Because the ring had been part of his story.

My wife.

My apartment.

My money.

My rules.

Now it sat on paper he could not control.

Ryan pointed at the officers, but his hand shook.

“This is a domestic misunderstanding.”

Emily’s eyes lifted slowly.

The officer closest to Ryan watched his hand.

The second officer remained near the doorway, calm and ready, blocking the exit without making a scene.

Rachel finally noticed the open shelves near Emily’s office corner.

The empty spaces where drives and document boxes had once been.

Her mouth fell open.

“You packed everything?”

Emily looked directly at her.

“Everything I needed.”

Rachel’s face twisted.

Ryan shot her a warning look, but it was too late.

The panic had already entered her expression.

Emily saw it.

Ryan saw Emily see it.

That made him angrier.

“You had no right to go through my apartment.”

Emily turned the phone slightly so it captured him, the officers, the suitcases, and the police report in one frame.

“Our apartment,” she said quietly.

Ryan’s jaw locked.

Not because he agreed.

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