Chapter 3 - THE SISTER’S WEAPON
Two days later, I was officially discharged from VCU Medical Center. Marcus had arranged for a private car to take us directly to his secure, gated townhome in the historic Fan District, ensuring I wouldn't have to return to my old apartment where my parents might attempt to ambush me.
My face remained heavily bandaged, and I was forced to take pain management medication every six hours, but my mind was sharper than it had ever been.
While I rested on the living room sofa, Marcus sat at his desk, managing his own investments while coordinating with David Vance and the Richmond Police Department. Detective Miller, a veteran investigator from the Special Assault Unit, had taken over my case after reviewing my medical forensic photos, negative blood alcohol panel, and the physical evidence of my flat sandals.
The narrative my parents had carefully constructed was already crumbling.
At 3:00 PM, Marcus’s phone chimed with an incoming video call from an unlisted number. He answered it on speaker, placing the phone on the coffee table between us.
"Marcus?"
It was Renee’s voice. She sounded breathy, desperate, and calculated, her voice dripping with the familiar, practiced helplessness she had used her entire life to get her way.
"Renee," Marcus said, his tone colder than deep-sea ice. "You are currently violating a court-issued emergency protective order by contacting me. This call is being recorded for legal proceedings."
"Marcus, please! Don't hang up!" Renee cried out quickly. "I’m not calling for Mom and Dad! I’m calling because I’m scared! They made me lie to the police, Marcus! I had no choice!"
I sat up slowly on the sofa, holding my breath as I listened to my sister’s seamless shift in strategy.
"You had a choice, Renee," Marcus said flatly. "You stood in the doorway, watched your father throw Dana into a glass table, and told the police she tripped."
"They forced me!" Renee sobbed into the speaker. "Dad was screaming at us before the ambulance arrived! He said if we didn't back his story, he would cut off my college fund, take my car, and kick me out of the house! Marcus, you know how Dad is! He controls everything!"
"What do you want, Renee?" Marcus asked, refusing to engage with her performance.
"I want to help you save Dana!" Renee said, her tone suddenly shifting into an urgent, intimate whisper. "Dad is losing his mind, Marcus. He’s destroying evidence right now. He had a private cleaning crew come to the house yesterday to power-wash the stone patio, throw away the broken glass, and repaint the grill area!"
I caught my breath. Tampering with a crime scene.
"And why are you telling me this?" Marcus asked.
"Because I care about you, Marcus," Renee said softly, dropping her voice into that practiced, sultry register she had used during her months of unwanted texting. "And... I know you only stayed with Dana because you felt sorry for her position in our family. But she’s broken now, Marcus. Her face is ruined. She’s going to be scarred for life, and she’s going to drag you into years of dirty, miserable family court drama."
I squeezed my eyes shut, a cold shiver running down my spine.
"Renee..." Marcus murmured, his tone ominously smooth. "Go on."
"I can give you everything you need to put Dad away," Renee offered, the true nature of her betrayal laying completely bare. "I have copies of his financial ledgers from his home office desk. I have the texts where he told Mom to scrub the patio. I will give you everything, Marcus... if you help me get away from them. Take me with you. We can leave Richmond. You don't need Dana’s baggage anymore."
She was offering to sell out her own father, betray her sister’s life-altering trauma, and step directly onto my ruined life—all to secure Marcus’s forty-million-dollar fortune for herself.
Marcus looked across the table directly into my eye. He saw the cold, unyielding resolve on my face, and he gave a slow, dark smile.
"Renee," Marcus said into the phone.
"Yes, Marcus?" she asked eagerly.
"You are a deeply sick, pathetic human being," Marcus said, every word hitting like a hammer strike. "You watched your sister bleed on a stone floor while your mother laughed. You tried to steal her fiancé, failed miserably, and now you’re offering to sell out your own father to secure a paycheck."
"Marcus—" Renee gasped, her voice cracking in shock.
"I love Dana," Marcus said, his voice ringing with pure, unshakeable devotion. "I loved her before I sold my company, I loved her on the floor of that patio, I love her with stitches in her face, and I will love her every single day of my life. Her scar isn't a ruined face, Renee. It’s a badge of honor showing she survived growing up in a house full of monsters like you."
"You're making a mistake!" Renee shrieked, her sweet facade instantly evaporating into toxic rage. "She’s nothing! She’s always been nothing!"
"This call," Marcus concluded calmly, "has been transmitted live to Detective Miller of the Richmond Police Department and David Vance. Thank you for confessing to crime scene tampering and evidence destruction on a recorded line. Goodbye, Renee."
Marcus ended the call.
For a long moment, the living room was silent. I reached out, my hand trembling slightly, and touched Marcus’s arm.
May you like
"Thank you," I whispered, my voice breaking with genuine emotion.
Marcus turned, pulled me gently into his arms, being incredibly careful not to touch the bandaged left side of my face, and held me tight. "You don't ever have to thank me for loving you, Dana. We are going to burn their empire to the ground."
