Chapter 4 - The Call Sasha Never Told Him About
Marcus stared at his wife.
“Three weeks?”
Sasha nodded.
“You received a call from Vanessa three weeks after we buried her?”
“I didn't know it was her at first.”
Marcus sat down slowly.
“Tell me everything.”
Sasha twisted her wedding ring.
“She called from an unknown number. I answered, and she said my name.”
“Then?”
“She asked why we left her there.”
Marcus felt physically sick.
“I thought someone was playing a joke,” Sasha continued. “Then she described the clearing. The truck. The wooden crate.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was terrified.”
“Of Vanessa?”
Sasha looked up.
“Of what you'd do if you knew she was alive.”
Marcus recoiled.
For years, he had imagined himself as a man who made one terrible mistake and spent the rest of his life suffering for it.
But Sasha's answer exposed something he had avoided.
She had believed he might finish what they started.
And he couldn't immediately prove her wrong.
“What happened after the call?”
“She said she wanted her life back.”
“Did you speak to her again?”
Sasha hesitated.
Marcus leaned forward.
“Sasha.”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Four.”
He stared at her.
“She contacted me over the next two months. She wanted money for medical treatment. She said she'd been found by someone driving near the property.”
“Did you give her anything?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand dollars.”
Marcus looked toward the staircase.
Their savings had been shrinking for years.
Sasha blamed unexpected expenses and family obligations.
Now he understood where some of the money had gone.
“Where did you meet her?”
“I didn't. She gave me instructions for sending the money.”
“And then?”
“She stopped calling.”
Marcus covered his face.
Vanessa had survived.
She had been injured, abandoned, and somehow found her way back to the world.
And Sasha had known.
All those years.
The next morning, Marcus contacted an attorney.
He told her the truth about the property, the missing-person investigation, and Sasha's disclosure.
The attorney's expression grew increasingly serious.
“You need to understand that this is not simply a family dispute,” she said.
“I know.”
“You may be facing serious criminal exposure. So may your wife.”
Marcus nodded.
He had spent six years avoiding those words.
Now they were unavoidable.
His attorney advised him to preserve all evidence, avoid contacting potential witnesses, and prepare to cooperate through proper legal channels.
But Sasha resisted.
When Marcus returned home, she was packing a suitcase.
“Where are you going?”
“To my sister's.”
“We need to talk.”
“No, Marcus. You need to decide whether you're going to ruin both our lives.”
He looked at the suitcase.
“You knew she was alive.”
“And you buried her.”
The words landed between them.
Neither could take them back.
Sasha closed the suitcase.
“Don't act like you're innocent because you suddenly feel guilty.”
Marcus said nothing.
She was right about one thing.
He wasn't innocent.
But he was finally beginning to understand that guilt and accountability were different.
Sasha pulled the suitcase toward the door.
Before leaving, she stopped.
“There's something else.”
Marcus waited.
“She didn't just want money.”
“What did she want?”
Sasha looked at him with exhausted eyes.
“She wanted the documents you took from her. The ones proving what happened to the business accounts.”
Marcus frowned.
“I don't have them.”
“I know.”
“Then where are they?”
Sasha's face changed.
And Marcus suddenly remembered the small silver key left beneath their welcome mat.
Vanessa hadn't returned merely to frighten them.
May you like
She had returned because something belonging to her was still missing.
Something Sasha had kept hidden for six years.
