Chapter 3 - THE SECRET ACCOUNT
Neither of us spoke for several seconds.
Then Anna closed her eyes.
"I was going to tell you."
My chest tightened.
"Tell me what?"
She walked toward the living room and lowered herself onto the couch.
I stayed standing.
Not because I was angry.
Because suddenly I was afraid to hear the answer.
"I opened another bank account."
"Why?"
"I've been putting money into it."
"How much?"
"About twelve thousand dollars."
I stared at her.
We had always shared our finances.
"What was it for?"
Anna's eyes filled.
"An apartment."
The room seemed to tilt.
"You were leaving me?"
"I was preparing to."
I looked away.
That sentence hurt.
She continued before I could speak.
"Not because I stopped loving you."
"Then why?"
"Because I didn't know if you would ever protect me."
There it was.
Not cruelty.
Not betrayal.
The consequence of months of my blindness.
Anna wiped her cheek.
"Your mother kept telling me that eventually you would choose her."
I sat across from her.
"She said the house was hers."
"It isn't."
"I know that."
"She said you'd never make her leave."
Until three hours earlier, that part had been true.
Anna looked down at her belly.
"I kept imagining bringing our baby home and living like this."
My anger disappeared.
What replaced it was worse.
Shame.
"You were building an escape plan."
She nodded.
"Just in case."
I moved beside her.
"I'm sorry."
"Ethan."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You told me something was wrong without telling me directly."
I swallowed.
"And I kept asking you to make peace with the person hurting you."
Anna cried silently.
I took her hand.
"You're never going to need that apartment."
She studied my face.
"How do you know?"
"Because she isn't coming back here."
My phone buzzed.
Claire was calling again.
I answered.
"What happened?"
She barely let me speak.
"Mom says you threw her out after Anna attacked her."
"Mom lied."
"She has scratches on her arm."
"I watched her holding Anna by the hair over the kitchen sink."
Claire went quiet.
"What?"
"Anna is nine months pregnant."
Silence.
Then Claire whispered, "Oh my God."
"I want you to come over tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Because I have a camera in the kitchen."
I had almost forgotten about it.
The camera had been installed after a break-in three years earlier.
It faced the back door and part of the sink.
I opened the security app while Claire remained on the phone.
The footage was there.
At 3:07 a.m., Anna entered the kitchen.
At 3:08, my mother followed her.
At 3:09, Mom grabbed Anna's arm.
At 3:10, she pulled her hair.
At 3:11, she pushed her toward the sink.
At 3:12, I appeared.
Claire began crying.
"Ethan."
"What?"
"You need to save that."
"I already am."
"No."
Her voice changed.
"You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
Claire was quiet for several seconds.
May you like
Then she said something I had never expected.
"This isn't the first woman Mom has done this to."
