Chapter 6 - Owen Had Heard More Than Anyone Realized
The next morning, Dominic kept both children home from school.
Owen did not complain.
Lily refused to let go of his sleeve while they sat at the breakfast table eating toast.
Diane, meanwhile, remained in the locked guest suite after Nora advised Dominic not to engage with her alone until certain legal notices were in motion. Dominic had already disabled the garage opener and taken her car keys.
Around midmorning, while Lily colored quietly, Owen came into the kitchen and said, “Dad, there’s something else.”
Dominic put down his coffee.
“What is it?”
Owen glanced over his shoulder, making sure Lily was out of earshot.
“Yesterday, before the noodles… Grandma was on the phone.”
“With who?”
“I don’t know. A lady.”
“What did she say?”
Owen’s brow furrowed as he tried to remember exactly.
“She said, ‘Once I get the child there, he won’t fight it. He’s too weak when it comes to guilt.’”
Dominic felt a chill go down his back.
“Anything else?”
“She said, ‘The boy is harder, but Lily’s the one causing the problem.’”
Dominic stood very still.
“The boy is harder.”
Meaning Owen.
Because Owen watched too much.
Questioned too much.
Protected too much.
“That’s why she slapped me,” Owen said, almost to himself. “Because I told her she couldn’t take Lily.”
Dominic moved around the counter and crouched in front of him.
“No,” he said firmly. “She slapped you because she is cruel. Nothing about that was your fault.”
Owen nodded, but his expression did not lighten.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out something folded.
“I took this out of the suitcase before you came home.”
Dominic opened it.
It was a printed schedule from a private intake center called St. Anne’s Behavioral Residence.
Not the address in Knoxville.
A different place.
Different city.
Same idea.
Two facilities.
Two plans.
At the top, in neat handwriting, someone had written:
Whichever has space first.
Dominic stared at the page in disbelief.
This had never been a spontaneous act.
May you like
His mother had been shopping for ways to remove Lily.
---
