He Made Me Sign, Not Knowing I Was Another's Wife novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Front Step

The doorbell rang at ten past nine on Friday morning.

Ruth looked through the curtain and said, "Hugh. And a policeman. And a gray car with the doctor in it."

"Where's Ansel?" I asked.

"Upstairs, behind the sloped door, and he knows not to come down."

I wiped my hands on a dish towel.

"Let me do this."

"I'll stand beside you," Ruth said. "I'll be small and old and in the way."

I opened the door.

Hugh stood on the porch in his charcoal suit, with the calm face he wore on video.

Beside him was a young officer with a notebook and an uneasy face.

Behind them, across Ruth's tidy front garden, the neighbors had begun to come out.

An old man was watering nothing at the edge of his lawn.

A woman in a bathrobe stood at her gate with a coffee mug.

Both of them had their phones in their other hands.

"Leona," Hugh said. "Thank God. I've been calling for two days."

"My phone has been on all week. You haven't called once."

"You walked out of the house. You didn't tell anyone where you were going."

"I told Aunt Ruth."

"Ma'am," the officer said. "I'm sorry to bother you. Your brother filed a concern for your welfare. I need to see you and ask a couple of questions."

"Of course."

"Are you here by choice?"

"Yes."

"Is anyone keeping you here?"

"My aunt keeps me fed," I said. "That's the worst of it."

A small snort came from Ruth, who was standing at my elbow in her cardigan.

The officer wrote something down.

"Do you feel safe, ma'am?"

"I feel perfectly safe."

"She's not herself," Hugh said. "I'm her brother and her trustee. She's been under a great deal of strain. She hasn't been sleeping, and she's making unusual choices."

← 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