Chapter 2: The Decision
The doctors said I was lucky to be alive.
I had internal bleeding, a broken wrist, and severe bruising. But the worst injury wasn’t physical.
It was the moment I realized that my own husband and his mother had tried to kill me and my unborn child.
Ryan came to the hospital every day. He cried. He held my hand. He told the police that I had slipped and that he had tried to catch me. Linda backed up his story completely.
The police believed them.
Everyone believed them.
Except me.
While I was recovering in the hospital, I made a decision.
I wasn’t going to stay.
I wasn’t going to forgive.
And I wasn’t going to let them get away with what they had done.
I started planning while I was still in the hospital bed.
I contacted an old college friend who lived in another state. I asked if she could help me disappear for a while. She agreed without asking too many questions.
I also started gathering evidence.
I saved every threatening message Ryan and Linda had sent me about the pregnancy. I took photos of my bruises. I even managed to record a conversation between Ryan and Linda while I was pretending to be asleep in the hospital. They thought I was heavily medicated.
They were wrong.
On the recording, Ryan said, “At least it’s over now. We don’t have to worry about the baby anymore.”
Linda replied, “Good. That girl was never right for you anyway.”
I saved that recording on a USB drive and hid it inside a book.
When I was discharged from the hospital, I went home and played the role of the broken but forgiving wife. I smiled at Ryan. I thanked Linda for her “support.” I even told them I understood why they did what they did.
They believed me.
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They thought I was weak.
They had no idea that I was already planning to destroy them.
