PART 5

Kendra pushed the folder toward me.

“What are you going to do?” I closed it.

“Nothing tonight.”

Daniel looked relieved.

“Good.”

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll have the property company send Travis the notice.”

His expression fell.

“You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

Kendra nodded.

“Then we need to do this carefully.”

“I don’t want revenge.”

“I know.”

“I want boundaries.”

She smiled sadly.

“Sometimes people who benefited from your lack of boundaries will call boundaries revenge.”

I stood.

“Then let them.”

The next morning, I woke at six.

For the first time in years, I didn’t check whether Brittany had texted me.

I made coffee.

I sat by the kitchen window.

I watched the sun rise over the trees.

At seven fifteen, my assistant called.

“Ms. Parker?”

“Yes?”

“There are two reporters downstairs.”

I frowned.

“Reporters?”

“Yes. They say they’re following up on an incident involving your daughter.”

My stomach tightened.

“Who contacted them?”

“I don’t know.”

“Send them away.”

“I already did.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up.

Three minutes later, my phone rang.

This time it was a number I didn’t recognize.

I answered.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Parker?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Ethan Cole. I’m a reporter with the Chicago Herald.”

“I don’t give interviews about my family.”

“I understand.”

“Then there’s nothing else to discuss.”

“Actually, there is.”

His voice changed.

“Your daughter has told several people that you financially control her life.”

I said nothing.

“She also claims you revoked a birthday gift because she rejected you publicly.”

I looked out the window.

There it was.

The story.

Already spreading.

“How did you get my daughter’s statement?”

“She gave it to us.”

Of course she had.

“What exactly did she say?”

There was a pause.

Then he said:

“She said she was afraid of what you might do if she became independent.”

I almost laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because it was so far from the truth that it hurt.

“Mr. Cole.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have children?”

“One daughter.”

“Then I hope someday she makes a decision that breaks your heart.”

He was silent.

“And when she does,” I continued, “I hope you love her enough to respect it.”

Then I hung up.

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART….