Chapter 5
My fingers found the emergency contact. Muscle memory. I didn't look at the screen, didn't try to speak. Just pressed call and let the phone drop into my pocket, the line open.
Lance was still talking, his voice echoing in the metal box. "You think you can ignore me? Pretend I don't exist? That's my daughter, Evie. Mine."
I focused on Winnie's face. The way she'd smiled after her performance. The crystals I'd sewn back onto her costume, each stitch a promise that I wouldn't let anyone destroy what we'd built.
The walls pressed closer, but I held onto that image.
"You're not even listening." Lance's hand slammed against the elevator wall beside my head. "Seven years of my life. Seven years you stole from me."
In my pocket, the phone was warm. Hendrix would hear this. He'd know.
"I gave you everything," Lance continued, his breath hot on my face. "And you ran. Like a coward. But you can't run anymore, can you? Not with my daughter to think about."
My vision was narrowing to a pinpoint, but somewhere beyond the panic, I heard it—voices in the hallway. Footsteps. The mechanical whir of the elevator system engaging.
Lance heard it too. His expression shifted, uncertainty flickering across his features.
The elevator lurched. The doors slid open.
I stumbled out into the hallway, my legs barely holding me. The air rushed into my lungs, too much, too fast. I bent over, hands on my knees, dragging in breath after breath.
Lance stepped out behind me, adjusting his watch. That tell. He was nervous now, but trying to hide it.
"Think about what I said." His voice had shifted back to that false reasonableness. "Tomorrow. Finals. We'll settle this then."
He walked away, and I watched him go, my phone still clutched in my shaking hand.
The screen showed the call duration: four minutes, seventeen seconds.
Hendrix had heard everything.
---
The day of finals arrived with cruel sunshine.
I'd barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back in the elevator, the walls closing in. But Winnie needed me focused, present. I wouldn't let Lance steal this from her.
The dressing room backstage was cramped, mirrors lined with harsh bulbs, the air thick with hairspray and nerves. Winnie sat still while I pinned her hair, her face pale but determined.
"You're going to be amazing," I whispered, securing the last bobby pin.
"I know." She met my eyes in the mirror, and I saw Hendrix's quiet confidence there. "Daddy's coming, right?"
"He wouldn't miss it."
The door slammed open.
Lance filled the doorway, Haley behind him, her hand resting on her swollen belly like a shield. Other mothers looked up, their conversations dying.
"There she is." Lance's voice was too loud, too bright. "My little ballerina."
I stepped between him and Winnie. "Get out."
"Now, is that any way to talk to your employer?" Haley's voice dripped false sweetness. She moved into the room, her eyes scanning the modest dressing area with obvious disdain. "This is what you've been reduced to? Cheap hotels and borrowed costumes?"
I felt Winnie's hand slip into mine, her fingers cold.
"We're leaving," I said.
"No." Lance moved fast, his hand closing around Winnie's other arm. "She's coming with me. Now."
Winnie made a small sound, fear and confusion mixing in her eyes.
"Let her go." My voice came out deadly quiet.
"She's my daughter." Lance pulled Winnie toward him, and she stumbled, her carefully pinned hair coming loose. "And you—" He looked at me with something like pity. "You can follow if you want. As the help. That's the deal, remember?"
Haley laughed, that breathy, calculated sound. "It's really for the best, Evie. You're clearly not equipped to raise a child of Mason caliber. But don't worry—we'll let you visit. On holidays. If you behave."
The other mothers were watching now, phones out, recording. The scandal of it, the drama. None of them moved to help.
Lance's grip tightened on Winnie's arm, and she cried out.
I lunged forward, but Haley stepped between us, her belly a weapon she wielded with precision.
"Careful," she whispered. "Wouldn't want to hurt the baby."
Behind us, the dressing room door opened again.
The air changed.
And Hendrix walked in.
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