I called them immediately.
Both numbers had been disconnected.
Panic clawed at my throat.
I rushed home, only to have Graham meet me at the door, his face ashen.
The day they heard about Austin's arrest, my parents had raced back to help. A landslide caught their car on the mountain road.
Neither survived.
In a single night, my world collapsed.
No husband. No parents. No one left to lean on.
I sold everything I owned and moved into a damp basement, hiding from the debt collectors who'd bought up Austin's gambling IOUs.
Sleep became impossible. I'd lie awake, flinching at every sound.
Eventually, they found me.
A group of men kicked down my door, armed with metal pipes.
They shattered two of my ribs. Broke my wrist so badly I could never hold a brush again.
It took three years to accept my fate.
I gave up everything—my art, my pride, my dreams—just to survive.
And now I was being told it was all a lie.
Austin's "punishment" had stripped me raw, peeled away everything I was, and rebuilt me into someone I didn't recognize.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Austin.
"Pearl, I'm being released in three days. Don't forget to pick me up."
My fingers tightened around the phone until my knuckles went white. A dull ache spread through my chest.
Even now, he was still playing his games.
He was already at his birthday party. I'd seen it with my own eyes.
He'd been holding Kathy, celebrating, surrounded by an enormous cake and beautiful decorations.
And yet he was still treating me like a fool.
I stared at those words until tears blurred my vision.
Then I blinked them away and read the message again.
I typed out a reply:
"Okay. I'll pick you up in three days."
Three days later, I went to the prison gates to collect Austin—without exposing his lies.
I spotted him from a distance, dressed in tattered clothes.
Playing the part of a man ruined by bankruptcy, living in squalor. He'd even used makeup to create a fake scar across his face.
The moment he saw me, he limped over, rushing toward me with exaggerated emotion.
"Pearl!"
He pulled me into his arms, eyes glistening with tears.
"I reflected on everything while I was inside. They said I showed excellent behavior, so they released me early."
"Pearl, you've been through so much these past years. I'm so sorry."
He looked so sincere, so deeply moved—as if he'd truly suffered through three years behind bars.