“That’s it?” Caleb slouches in his seat. “And
I don’t ever get to see my daughter again?”
Everything in me screams hell no, but having stripped him of his parental rights, I make the only concession I can. “When she’s older, and if you’ve completed anger management therapy to my satisfaction, then I’ll consider supervised visits.”
“To your satisfaction?” He rolls his eyes and sucks his teeth. “We’ll see about that.”
“Caleb, shut your fucking mouth,” his father snaps. “Iris, I understand. I’ll have paperwork drawn up reflecting your … demands.”
The hesitation on his face seems out of place. He’s always sure, but uncertainty is as clear as the pride he pushes aside to ask his next question.
“Maybe you could …” He clears his throat, an uncharacteristic pause from a man who always sounds sure. “… consider allowing my wife and me to see Sarai when the time is right? She is our only granddaughter, after all.”
I toughen the soft parcels of my heart, giving no ground. Anyone I have contact with is someone Caleb can use to find me before I’m ready to be found. Phone calls, letters, messages—they’re all bread crumbs Caleb would sniff out and follow if his obsession overpowered his sense of self-preservation.
“I’ll consider that later,” I reply. “But right now, I need to put distance between me and everything to do with your son, including you.”
“This is ridiculous,” Caleb says under his breath.
“That’s fair …” Mr. Bradley’s expression hardens into granite, his negotiating face. “Now for our terms.”
I knew this was coming, and I’m prepared. I simply nod for him to go on.
“You sign an NDA that you’ll never speak of this and never release the contents of this file, as long as Caleb complies with your requests,” he says. “And I mean speak of it to no one. Ever. Violation of that nullifies everything else and restores Caleb’s parental rights.”
I meet Caleb’s eyes, and for a second, I think he wants me to violate it—to give him an excuse to break the leash I’m imposing and come after me, take Sarai. Hurt me again.
“I can do that,” I agree.
“And I can write a check for a generous amount to get you settled.” Mr. Bradley pulls out his dreaded checkbook again.
“No.” I’m not yielding on this. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want to take anything from your family into our new life. As matter of fact, I have something for you, Caleb.”
I reach into the front pocket of my jeans, remove the engagement ring Caleb forced on me, and slide it across the table with such force it skips across the hard surface and lands on the floor, repaying his earlier disrespect.
Caleb’s cheeks mottle with emotion. The corners of his eyes tighten.
“Yours, I believe.” I rub at my ring finger as if it’s contaminated.
Mr. Bradley slips the checkbook back into the inside pocket of his jacket. “We’ll draw up the papers tomorrow, and—”
“I want the papers today.” I gather my things and the tiny scraps of self-respect I’ve recovered and turn toward the door. “Instructions for delivery are in the folder. I’m leaving town tomorrow.”
“Where are you going?” Caleb demands. “Where are you taking Sarai?”
“You heard the terms, Caleb,” Maury interrupts. “If you don’t want to lose everything and find yourself in a well-earned prison cell, you don’t get to know, and you don’t get to follow. Regardless, you’ll need to find yourself a new agent.”
Maury grimaces, taking in the gruesome images of my pummeled face and body. “Iris, are you sure you don’t want to press charges? He shouldn’t get away scot-free.”
A bitter laugh precedes my answer. “I press charges and what? He gets a slap on the wrist? Probation? A year for what he’s done by the time his lawyers whittle it down? And still can get joint custody of my daughter?”
I glare at Caleb before going on. He blanks his expression, looking deliberately bored, like I’m wasting his time.
“Should I live looking over my shoulder, waiting for him to decide he wants me back?” I continue. “Or wants me dead? Is that the justice you want me to seek? No, thank you. I’ll make my own justice. It’s not perfect and it may run out one day, but it’s the best I can do right now for Sarai and me.”
I shake my head. “I’ve taken the things from him that matter most: access to me and my child. Forgive me for being more concerned about our freedom than whether or not he is ‘scot-free.’ The only thing he wants to do more than hurt me is to protect himself.”
“Well then let’s get on with it,” Maury says, standing and extending his arm for me to precede him through the door.