He Gave My House to His Ex, So I Took My Life Back novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Clip

I stared at the text on the porch.

Sam watched my face and did not ask.

"I have to go upstairs," I said.

"I'll be here."

"If Carlton comes out, don't hit him."

"I'll try," he said, and sat down on the top step.

The living room was empty when I went in.

Carlton's voice came from the kitchen, low and fast, and Colleen's answered it.

I took the stairs without touching the rail.

Cody's door had a line of light under it.

I knocked twice.

"It's open," he said.

He sat on the navy bedspread with the pieces of his phone lined up on the blanket beside him.

An old phone with a cracked corner lay in his lap.

I held up mine and showed him the text.

He looked at it, and then at me.

"That was me," he said.

"You sent this?"

"From my old phone. It still has a prepaid number I use for team chat." He swallowed. "I couldn't say it out loud with Dad in the house."

"Say it now."

He pulled a laptop off the desk and opened it on his knees.

"Everything I film goes to the cloud," he said. "I told you. I didn't look at this one for months. I only thought of it tonight, when Aunt Robin texted Mom after the dinner."

My stomach turned over.

"Robin texted your mother tonight?"

"Mom's phone was on the counter. It said, 'Is she with you? Don't let her go to the police.' I wasn't trying to read it."

He turned the screen toward me.

"This is from last April," he said. "I was filming the dog next door. I had the kitchen window behind me."

The video was short.

It showed my kitchen, bright with afternoon sun, and two women at my island with a bottle of white wine between them.

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