Page 15 of Centering Kaos

“I know.”

My phone rang.

I glanced at the screen and frowned. The caller was anonymous. Matt liked to call me from blocked numbers when he wanted to threaten or yell at me and didn’t want a record of the call. He would have received the divorce papers by now and this had to be him, ready to rant and rave at me. I thought about sending the call to voicemail, but needed to know how he was handling the news and what I’d be dealing with.

“Speaking of the devil?” Elenore asked.

“Probably. Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need luck. You need a priest to exorcise that demon from your life.”

Unfortunately, no priests were present. Clearing the fear from my throat, I answered the call, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible. “Hello?”

“All I ever wanted to do was love you,” Matt said in my ear, his words clipped with anger. “Everything I’ve done has been for you and Dylan, and this is how you repay me? You give up? Our family means the world to me, and you’re ripping it apart. Have you even thought about how this will affect Dylan? You grew up without a dad, and you know how hard that was on you. Do you really want to put him through that kind of pain?”

“No. If I did, I wouldn’t have dropped out of college to be with you, Matt.” I didn’t want to fight him, but I couldn’t sit through another one of his guilt trips, either.

“You hadn’t even picked a major yet, and I have no idea how you planned to pay for school. I did you a favor. You owe me, Kristina.”

“I gave you nine years of my life, and you wanted to hit me so bad, you found a hooker who looks like me to beat on. And then you turned your fists on me. I don’t owe you anything.”

He chuckled, and it sounded off. Forced. “You’re just making shit up now. None of that happened, and you know it.”

“I’m not the cops. You don’t have to lie to me. I was there, remember? I suppose you’re still claiming it wasn’t you who jumped me after work?”

“I was at Chi-Chi’s with Aaron and Dwight. Even the wait staff vouched for me,” he said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know what’s going on in that twisted little brain of yours, but you need help. Maybe I should come get Dylan so you can get some rest and figure out why you’re so damn desperate to destroy what I worked hard to build. You’ve always been a bit self-destructive, but this is getting ridiculous.”

Matt never admitted guilt. Never. Instead, he always brought me over to his way of thinking, making me question my senses and feel like I was overreacting. But this time, he’d gone too far. I had a photograph of his abused hooker and had felt his anger first-hand. No matter what he said, I couldn’t be persuaded to forget those horrors. His days of gaslighting me were over. “We both know your buddies would lie for you, and I’m sure you paid off a waitress to verify their story.”

“You’re the only one making shit up, and I’m worried about the safety of our son. He needs stability and quite frankly I don’t think you can give it to him right now. Let me come and pick him up, and there will be no reason to involve the police. I can be at your sister’s in thirty minutes.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up and every instinct screamed at me to grab Dylan and run. “You can’t do that. You signed the agreement for supervised visits. You promised you wouldn’t do this, Matt.”

“That was before I realized how unstable you are. You’re dangerous to Dylan, and without Elenore, you’d have no resources to provide for him. If this goes to court, you won’t have the money to hire an attorney. You know I’ll get him in the end. I always win. Might as well just hand him over now.”

He didn’t know I had other people in my corner now. Reaching into my pocket, I slid my fingers over the worn business card still there, reassuring myself. “I am not handing my son over to a woman beater,” I spat.

“More lies.” Matt clicked his tongue. “Such a disappointment. Maybe I should come over there and have a conversation with Elenore. Let her know what’s really going on. Maybe she can help me get you the psychiatric help you obviously need.”

My sister had never trusted Matt, and there was no way she’d believe him over me. Especially when she’d been the one to clean me up after his beatings. Still, I didn’t miss the threat in his words. I’d never meant to put Elenore in danger, but now she was in his crosshairs. “I’m not staying with her anymore,” I lied. “I moved out today.”

The phone went quiet. As I started to wonder if he’d hung up, Matt chuckled, calling my bluff. “You don’t have anyone else,” he said confidently. “Nowhere else to go.”

“Maybe you don’t know everything there is to know about me,” I replied.

“You better fuckin’ be at Elenore’s.” Matt’s voice had gone cold and low. He was done playing with me. “And when I come for you and Dylan, I expect you to comply. I don’t care how delusional you are, your place is here. You aremine. You understand?Mine!Your little game is over, one way or another.”

“You don’t have the right to order me around anymore. I have to go. Don’t bother looking, because you won’t find me. Goodbye, Matt,” I said, hitting the end call button. My hands trembled. Icy, invisible fingers slid up my spine as tears burned my eyes. My husband was going to kill me. I’d been stupid to think this could work… that I could get away from him. Now, he’d be coming for me. Coming to Elenore’s.

I had to get out of there.

Elenore’s arm slid around my waist, holding me up when I wanted to crumple to the floor and cry. “What did that bastard say?” she asked.

Before I could answer, my phone rang again. I was so startled, I almost dropped it. Emily’s name popped up on the caller ID. I sucked down a breath, trying to get my heart to stop racing, and answered.

“Hey Tina. Great news. Kaos did it. Matt has officially been served. I’ll get everything filed tomorrow morning. Congratulations, you are one step closer to getting your life back. In ninety days, you will officially be a free woman.”

She sounded so cheerful and encouraging, but ninety days felt like an eternity to me. Especially when Matt was on his way to collect me and Dylan.

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