Page 79 of Nave
It was in his top drawer that I found it. Nestled in a drawer organizer with all the various other items. If I hadn’t already discovered the hole in the doorknob, I never would have thought twice about it.
But it was the perfect size and shape.
What else could it be for?
I didn’t touch it that day. Or the next. Or the next.
I waited two whole weeks before I palmed it, making sure I left cleaning supplies in Ben’s office so I had an excuse to go back in and stick the key back before Ben could realize it was gone.
My heart had been in my throat, sure Ben was going to catch me on the cameras, was going to come home to, I don’t know, take Edith from me.
I’d rather die.
But I forced myself to go through my usual top-to-bottom routine. Until I got to the doorknob. Then I pushed the key in.
There was a click.
And the red light turned green.
It was a key.
I had a way to escape.
But I took the key back out, slipping it in my pocket until I made a show of looking for my lost cleaning supplies and rushed back to the office.
I wanted to leave more than anything.
But I wasn’t stupid.
I wouldn’t get very far without some money, without a plan.
So as much as some part of me was screaming to grab Edith and make a run for it, I stayed. I kept enduring. But my mind was never far from freedom.
It was the skipped period that had a sense of urgency overtaking me.
There was a clock ticking.
I couldn’t let Ben find out I was pregnant.
I couldn’t subject a baby to life with him.
So I got smart.
Ben always had large amounts of cash from jobs that he—literally—made me wash. It was a long, painstaking process because the linen paper was delicate. I shuddered to think how much cash we’d ruined in the process of trying to find a way to clean it so Ben felt comfortable touching it to use.
Which was how I knew that he would never notice some bills going missing.
So for about two months, I would wash, take, and hide money.
On top of that, I started very carefully stashing a few items of clothing for myself in the bathroom, where Ben wouldn’t see them. As well as some palmed handfuls of Edith’s food.
I hadn’t been ready to go the day I ended up leaving. I wanted to take at least two or three more weeks to stash away cash.
But fate had other plans.
“Make sure she does her business,” Ben warned as he opened the door for me.
“Why?” I asked, confused. She never went in the house.
