“Don’t Come In – Get Out Right Now!” The Maid Yelled. I Ran – And Just Five Minutes Later…

Chapter 2: The Truth in the Shadows

That night I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Emily’s face signing those papers, Julian looking at his watch, and the look of terror in Maria’s eyes.

What were they planning? And why would my own daughter be involved in something against me?

When the sun began to rise, I was still awake. I was sitting on the balcony of my small apartment, looking out at the city of Austin as it woke up.

The people in the streets seemed so normal, so oblivious to the turmoil happening in my life. What would it be like to wake up without the weight of knowing that the person you love most in the world might want to hurt you?

As the clock ticked toward noon, a determination grew inside me. I would go to that meeting with Maria and find out the truth, no matter how painful.

The uncertainty, I realized, was even more unbearable than any truth. The bus terminal was busy as always.

People were rushing to catch their buses, and families were saying goodbye. Teenagers with huge backpacks were waiting for their rides.

I felt out of place there: a middle-aged woman alone, looking for answers to questions I didn’t even know how to form. The coffee shop was in a secluded corner, a small place with Formica tables and plastic chairs.

I chose a table where I could see the entrance and ordered a coffee. I knew I wouldn’t be able to drink it; my stomach was in knots.

At 12:10, Maria walked in. She was dressed simply, in a dark jacket and a scarf partially covering her face.

Her eyes darted around nervously, scanning every corner of the place before heading to my table.

“Miss Elizabeth,” she whispered, sitting down quickly.

“Thank you for coming, Maria. For God’s sake, tell me what’s going on,” I pleaded, holding her trembling hands across the table.

“Why did you stop me from going in yesterday? What is Emily planning?”

She glanced around as if afraid of being watched and lowered her voice even more.

“It’s not just Emily, Miss Elizabeth. It’s Julian. He’s controlling everything.”

A chill ran down my spine. From the beginning, I never fully trusted Julian.

There was something about him: a calculating coldness behind the charming smile. But Emily was so in love she never wanted to hear my concerns.

“Controls how?” I asked.

Maria took a deep breath.

“For months, I’ve seen strange things happening in that house. Mr. Julian, he isolates Emily.”

“First it was her friends, then her family. You were the last one to be pushed away.”

“But it was Emily who stopped talking to me,” I argued, confused.

“No, Miss Elizabeth. It was him who convinced her that you were trying to control her life, that you didn’t respect her choices.”

“He twists everything. He makes Emily believe everyone is against her, that only he protects her.”

Maria paused, her eyes wet.

“She’s losing weight because he even controls what she eats. He says she needs to stay in shape, that nobody likes fat women.”

I felt nauseous. The pieces were starting to fit: the gradual distance, the changes in Emily’s behavior, and the way she started repeating phrases that sounded rehearsed.

“And the dinner yesterday? Why invite me?”

Maria lowered her voice even more.

“I heard a conversation between them. Mr. Julian said they needed your signature on some documents—something about the house you helped buy and some stocks that Emily’s dad left her, things you still have some control over.”

The condo I helped Emily finance when she got married was still partially in my name. And the stocks my ex-husband, Emily’s father, left when he passed away—I was the administrator until she turned 35, which would be in just a few months.

Were they going to make me sign papers to transfer everything to them? Not just that, Maria hesitated, her eyes fixed on mine.

“I heard Mr. Julian talking to a man on the phone. He said, ‘After Tuesday, everything will be ours and no one will question it. The old woman won’t be in the way anymore.'”

My blood ran cold. The old woman? Is that how Julian referred to me when he thought no one was listening?

The idea that my son-in-law and my own daughter were conspiring to take my assets was devastating. But there was something else in Maria’s words, something she wasn’t saying.

“There’s more, isn’t there, Maria?”

She nodded slowly, a tear rolling down her face.

“Miss Elizabeth, I think they… I think they wanted to hurt you.”

“I heard Julian talking about an accident—that it would be easy to make it look like you slipped on the stairs after drinking wine at dinner.”

The coffee shop started to spin around me. My own daughter contemplating my death?

“No, it couldn’t be. That was too insane. Emily would never agree to that,” I said, more to myself than to Maria.

“Emily isn’t the same anymore, Miss Elizabeth. He manipulates her. She does everything he says. It’s like she’s hypnotized.”

I sat in silence trying to process it all. Part of me wanted to deny it, to say it was impossible, but another part knew Maria had no reason to make up something so horrible.

“Why are you telling me this, Maria? Why risk yourself like this?”

Her eyes met mine, filled with determination.

“Because Emily was a good girl before him. I watched her grow up, remember? I worked for you all since she was 12.”

Her voice broke.

“And because… because my sister died at the hands of a man like Mr. Julian. A man who controlled everything, who isolated her from everyone, who made her believe the world was a terrible place and only he could protect her.”

I felt a lump in my throat. Maria was risking her job, maybe even her safety, to warn me.

“Do you have proof of anything? Anything that can help us?”

She nodded and took a small recorder from her purse.

“I recorded some conversations and took pictures of documents I found in his office. They’re preparing everything for after your… after Tuesday. Wills, transfers, everything.”

I took the recorder with shaky hands.

“Maria, do you realize this is… this is criminal. We need to go to the police.”

“No!” she exclaimed, scared.

“Not yet. Mr. Julian has friends on the force. He’s always bragging about how easy it is to make things disappear when you know the right people.”

“Then what do we do?”

Maria leaned forward.

“First, you need to protect yourself. You can’t go back to your apartment. They know where you live; they know your routine. We need you to stay somewhere safe while we figure out more.”

“And Emily? We can’t just leave her with him.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her, Miss Elizabeth. If he tries anything…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but I saw the worry in her eyes.

“For now, the important thing is to keep you safe.”

I looked out the coffee shop window at the people passing by, oblivious to the terror I was living. How could I just disappear?

Abandon my life, my home, my job at the small bookstore I managed in Boulder? And how could I leave Emily behind, even if she was involved in something so terrible against me?

“I have a cousin who lives out in the country,” Maria said. “Near Santa Fe. We can say you went to visit her. No one will look for you there.”

The idea of running, of hiding, was almost as terrifying as the revelations I had just heard.

“What if I try to talk to Emily alone, without Julian? Maybe she…”

“Miss Elizabeth,” Maria interrupted, her voice firm. “You don’t understand. She won’t choose you. Not right now. He has complete control over her.”

Her words hit me like a punch. The truth I didn’t want to face: I had already lost my daughter.

Not when she stopped talking to me a year ago, but long before, when that man entered our lives and began to weave his web of manipulation.

“I’ll go to your cousin’s house,” I finally decided. “But not to hide. To think. To plan how we’re going to save Emily.”

Maria nodded, visibly relieved.

“That’s for the best, Miss Elizabeth. I’ll keep watch here and keep you informed. We’re going to get Emily out of this.”

When we left the coffee shop, the world seemed different, more threatening. The noon sun no longer felt warm, and the faces of the people around me seemed like masks hiding unknown intentions.

I was about to leave behind everything I knew, fleeing from a danger that came from the person I loved most in the world. I looked at Maria one last time before we parted.

“Take care of yourself, and watch over my daughter, always.”

“Always, Miss Elizabeth.”

I walked to my car, feeling the weight of the recorder in my jacket pocket. That small object held the truth that could destroy my family forever, but it could also be the key to saving my daughter from a monster who was consuming her from the inside.