Chapter 5 - THEY TOOK EVERYTHING
Maya gripped the counter and tried to rise again.
“I can make you something,” she said weakly. “You must be hungry after the flight.”
I caught her before she collapsed.
“I’m not eating anything until you tell me where they are.”
Her face tightened.
“Miami.”
“Where is the food?”
“They took some of it.”
I pulled open the refrigerator.
It was completely empty.
Not nearly empty. Empty.
Before leaving Germany, I had ordered trays of prepared meals, broth, fresh fruit, milk, recovery drinks, and enough specialty infant formula to last three weeks. The refrigerator shelves had been wiped clean. Even the bottles of water were gone.
A handwritten note had been taped inside the door. I recognized Eleanor’s sharp handwriting before I read a single word.
They had left instructions for Maya to make do with the pantry and warned her not to call me “playing the victim.”
On the lowest shelf, someone had abandoned one expired packet of mustard.
I stared into the empty refrigerator until the muscles in my jaw hurt.
Then I remembered the security system.
The living-room camera could be accessed through my phone, although my family believed I rarely checked it. I opened the application and scrolled backward through the footage.
At 4:12 that afternoon, Eleanor appeared in her winter coat carrying two insulated grocery bags toward the door. Chloe followed with unopened boxes of formula and the recovery meals I had ordered for Maya. Mark rolled three suitcases behind them.
At 4:18, Eleanor walked to the thermostat and lowered the temperature.
At 4:21, Chloe opened the refrigerator, removed the remaining fruit and milk, then looked directly toward Maya, who sat weakly at the dining table with Liam in her arms.
“She can order something,” Chloe said.
“With what?” Mark asked. “You took her card.”
Eleanor answered without lowering her voice.
“She’ll manage. And if she calls David, I’ll tell him she spent the money and neglected the baby.”
My hand began to shake.
Maya grabbed my sleeve.
“Please don’t confront her.”
I looked at the paused image of my mother leaving with food meant for my recovering wife and newborn son.
“She said you’d blame me,” Maya whispered.
I put the phone in my pocket, wrapped Liam securely inside my winter coat, then lifted Maya carefully into my arms.
“Not this time.”
May you like
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, New Year’s fireworks exploded across the city.
Inside our apartment, the year ended with me finally understanding which people had been destroying my family.
