And then you’re going to tell everyone we separated because we wanted different things.”
There was a long silence.
Then Mara’s recorded voice said, “And if I don’t?”
Gavin answered without raising his voice.
“Then I’ll make sure everyone who matters thinks you’re unstable before you finish your first sentence.”
Dante stopped the recording.
His face had gone completely still.
Mara opened her eyes.
“There’s more,” she said.
“You don’t have to hear more today.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
She looked at the laptop.
“Because for three years I’ve wondered whether I exaggerated it in my head.”
Dante’s expression changed.
“You didn’t.”
“I know that logically.
But when everyone around you behaves as if nothing happened, eventually silence starts rewriting your memory.”
Dante pushed the laptop closer.
They listened.
Not to everything.
Enough.
Enough to establish threats.
Enough to establish coercion surrounding the evidence.
Enough to show that the peaceful divorce described in the public record had not been peaceful at all.
The photographs matched injuries documented in the clinic records.
The messages showed Gavin apologizing, then blaming Mara, then warning her not to embarrass him.
The dates aligned with her absences from the academy.
And the final video contained the piece Gavin’s lawyers had apparently feared most.
The camera angle was poor.
The image shook.
Much of the room was outside the frame.
But Gavin was visible.
Mara’s voice came from behind the camera.
“Say it again.”
Gavin stepped closer.
“Turn that off.”
“Say what you just said.”
His expression changed when he realized she was recording.
He reached toward the device.
The image jolted violently and went dark.
But before it did, his voice was unmistakable.
“You leave this house with anything, and I’ll bury you with it.”
The video ended.
Mara sat completely still.
Dante expected tears.
None came.
Instead, she reached forward and closed the laptop.
“That’s why the agreement mentioned recordings,” she said.
“Yes.”
“They knew.”
“Yes.”
Her next question came slowly.
“Does the agreement stop me from using this?”
Dante chose his words carefully.
“I don’t know.
