Chapter 6
Megan had saved the number under a name Brian would never question.
Plumber.
That was what the contact said.
Brian had never opened it because Brian did not fix things. He hired people, complained about invoices, and called it managing the household.
The number belonged to a man Megan had met eight months earlier at a charity fundraiser.
Not romantically.
Not secretly in the way Brian would later suggest.
He was older, calm, and had noticed the way Donna spoke over Megan during dinner.
After the event, he had handed Megan a card.
No pressure.
No speech.
Just a quiet sentence.
“If you ever need a safe exit, call me before you think you’re ready.”
Megan almost threw the card away.
Instead, she entered the number under Plumber and told herself she would never use it.
But fear teaches memory.
So when Brian slapped her and Lily burned with fever in the back seat, Megan did not scroll randomly through contacts.
Her thumb found the disguise.
Pressed call.
The man answered on the second ring.
She said only what mattered.
“He hit me. Lily has a hundred-and-four fever.”
He did not ask, “Are you sure?”
He did not ask, “What did you do?”
He did not ask if Brian was a good man under stress.
He said, “Lock the car. Stay visible. Do not open the door for anyone. I’m almost there.”
Now his vehicles were turning onto the street.
Megan still did not know what would happen next.
She only knew she had done the first impossible thing.
She had called someone Brian could not intimidate from inside the house.
In the back seat, Lily whimpered again.
Megan reached one hand between the seats and touched her daughter’s ankle.
“I’m here.”
Brian struck the glass earlier.
Now he stood several feet away from it.
May you like
That distance told Megan the call had already changed the room, even though they were outside.
Read Chapter 7 👉 Because Megan’s hidden contact was not a secret affair, but the emergency door Brian never knew existed.
