4: 4
4
But only I knew that if my daughter stayed today, the next time I saw her, it would be her corpse.
The standoff broke when the officers showed up.
"Who called this in?"
"I did."
The words were barely out of my mouth before Frederick was already holding out a cigarette.
"Officers, I'm sorry. Dragging you all out here again."
If I'd held any hope in the police before, now all I wanted was for them to buy me a little more time.
I didn't know what had happened before, but after what I'd just seen, it was clear.
If calling the police did any good, my daughter wouldn't have ended up the way she did in the last life.
The me from the last life wouldn't have told me only Robin Gilbert could save her, either.
Just as I'd thought.
The officer in charge didn't take the cigarette, but his tone was plainly impatient.
"All right, all right. What are you two fighting about this time?"
Before Frederick could answer, the people around us were already chiming in over each other on his behalf.
"It's this woman. She's loose, tried to run off to chase after some other man. Freddie hit her, sure, but she hurt his arm too."
"Officer, you don't need to bother with this. A woman like that deserves a beating!"
"Right, and she's got the nerve to call the cops. Isn't that a waste of your time?"
The officer glanced at my daughter, frowned, and turned to Frederick.
"How many times do I have to say it? No matter how wrong she is, you don't hit people."
"If you can't make it work, get divorced. Was that written statement of yours for nothing?"
Then he turned to me.
"This is a domestic matter. All we can do is mediate. In a case like today's, where both parties are injured, if you insist on pursuing it, I'd suggest you get a forensic exam and file suit."
I refused to go to the Delgado house to talk it out and said I wanted to ride in the patrol car to the hospital to have the injuries documented.
The officer had barely nodded when the radio on his shoulder crackled.
"All units near Chandler Hollow, be advised. Wildfire at Highcrest Ridge. Emergency backup requested!"
First things first. As they left, one of them was still muttering.
"How is it that every time we come out here, there's always another call nearby that needs backup…"
My heart dropped hard. How could it be this convenient?
Before I could think it through, Rosemary shot the thugs a look.
"What are you standing around for? No divorce means she's still a Delgado. Get your brother's wife back in the house!"
The two big men crossed over in two strides, grabbed my daughter's arms, and started dragging her toward the door.
She struggled.
"I won't go. I'm not going back!"
"Don't touch my daughter!"
I threw myself in to pull that hand off her, and someone caught me by the back of the collar and flung me backward.
I hit the broken glass, and my palms were cut open with fresh gashes.
"Mom!"
Watching my daughter about to be dragged inside, I pushed up on my elbows and got off the ground.
"Frederick, you'd better let go of my daughter right now. If anything happens to her, your whole Delgado family is finished!"
He came over with a sneer and dropped his voice against my ear.
"Every school in this town was built with Delgado money. Every road in every village was paved by the Delgados. The whole town's economy runs on us."
"When I, Frederick Delgado, want someone, she should die at my side if she dies at all. A woman who had a child out of wedlock, what have you got to bring the Delgados down?"
He patted my cheek.
"Old thing, you'd better worry about yourself. Remember to lock your door tonight."
"Come on, see my dear mother-in-law home!"
His smug face in front of me, my daughter's hopeless cries in my ears.
I gripped the broken glass in my hand, ready to take him down with me.
Beams of harsh light poured over us, and more than a dozen cars stopped outside the Delgado house.
Dozens of bodyguards in black surrounded the place, and Robin Gilbert stepped out of the first Maybach, cold radiating off him.
"Let them go!"
