My Husband Dismissed Seven Ransom Calls as AI novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Terms

Ansel dialed Eli before the text had finished loading.

It rang four times in the NICU, loud enough to make a nurse flinch.

"Eli," he said. "Don't open the door."

I could not hear the boy's answer. I watched my husband's face.

"Lock yourself in the bathroom. Is there a window? Then go out of it. I'll send someone."

"I'll call 911," Beth said, already dialing. "Welfare check. What's the street?"

Ansel gave it from memory, which told me how much he had already learned tonight.

Then he lowered the phone and looked at me, with his thumb still on the screen.

"He's gone," he said. "The line cut off."

Six minutes later the phone buzzed again.

I'm out. I'm ok. Dont call. She's watching.

Ansel read it three times.

Then he turned the phone toward me, to show me he had nothing to hide.

It was the first time in five years he had held out his phone to me before I asked.

Four days later they let me go.

My stomach was stitched shut and my jaw was wired, and Pip stayed behind in her incubator, with a pink cap and a name card that said BABY GIRL ERICKSON.

I hated walking out without her.

The nurse brought a wheelchair to the door, and Beth brought a duffel bag of my clothes.

"You're staying at my place," she said. "It's four blocks from here. I have a spare room, a dog and no husband to ask permission from."

I wrote on the whiteboard: NOT HOME YET.

"Our house is nine minutes away," Ansel said from the corner. "You don't have to go to Beth's."

I looked at him for a long time.

He had not slept.

← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend