Every time my brother-in-law drove me home, I would lose consciousness and wake up with unexplained aches and pains. My husband would only laugh and say, “You’re just out of shape, that’s all.” After the fourth ride, I secretly slipped a voice recorder into my purse and said nothing. That night, I listened to a phone conversation between the two of them that revealed my blackouts had never been accidental.

I asked Priya to save it.

She did, then drove straight to the police station rather than the place we had planned to stay.

The threat went into the report.

I stared at the screen and felt a strange, unsteady relief.

Someone had finally made the danger visible outside the walls of my marriage.

PART 4

That evening, sitting in a borrowed guest room, I searched the name Vanessa in every record I could reach without returning home.

Julian had always described his business as private healthcare logistics.