Chapter 2: The Name She Said
I hit the ground hard on a narrow strip of beach, my knees buckling, one hand still pressed against my stomach.
The baby moved.
I sobbed out loud at that small, fierce flutter — proof that we were both still alive.
I had maybe twenty minutes before Richard landed.
My phone was still in my jacket pocket.
I dialed Evelyn before I even stood up.
She answered on the first ring.
"Are you on the ground?"
"Yes.
He did it, Evelyn.
He actually did it."
A pause.
Then, very calmly: "I know.
The pilot called me eleven minutes ago."
I froze.
"The pilot?"
"I hired him six weeks ago.
Richard thought he found that helicopter company on his own." Her voice was steady, almost quiet.
"There is a car coming to you right now.
Do not go home.
Do not call Richard.
And do not tell anyone you survived — not yet."
I looked up at the sky.
The helicopter was already a distant shape moving back toward the coast.
Richard was up there, watching the water.
Waiting.
"Evelyn," I whispered.
"What did you do?"
"I did what your father would have done," she said.
"I made sure that if Richard ever made his move, he would walk straight into ours."
Then she said a name I had never heard before.
And everything I thought I understood about my marriage crumbled.
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What Evelyn reveals next — and the name she says — changes the entire story.
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