Chapter 6 - The Weak Link
It took three days for the empire to crumble.
With Eleanor back in a holding cell and facing felony child abuse charges, Marcus was panicking. His own audio recording had implicated him as an accessory. The country club friends stopped calling. The Facebook posts were hastily deleted.
Late on a Thursday night, there was a knock on my apartment door. I checked the peephole. It was Marcus. He looked disheveled, unshaven, a far cry from the polished man I used to know.
“Clara, please,” he begged through the door. “Just five minutes.”
I didn't open the door. I slid the chain lock into place and cracked it open an inch. “You have one minute before I call Ramirez.”
“Mom is throwing me under the bus,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “Vance is her lawyer, not mine. They’re trying to say I was the one who turned the water on, that Mom tried to stop me. Clara, I didn't do it! You know I wouldn't do that!”
“You let her do it, Marcus. You watched.”
“I’ll testify against her,” he pleaded, gripping the doorframe. “I’ll tell the DA everything. About the burns, about how she locked Chloe in the closet. I’ll give them everything they need to put her away for ten years. Just... please, Clara. Don't take my parental rights away. Don't let them send me to prison.”
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He wasn't doing this for Chloe. He was doing this to save his own skin.
“Testify against her, Marcus,” I said coldly. “Do it. But don't expect it to save you from me.” I slammed the door in his face.
