part 2
PART 2
The siren came next.
Not loud at first.
Just a thin sound under the rain.
Then sharper.
Closer.
Cameron looked in the mirror and swore.
Julia kept the papers against her chest.
Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat.
Sloane’s voice came through the speaker again.
“What is happening?”
Cameron snapped, “Nothing.”
But the blue and red lights washed across the SUV windows now.
There was no nothing left.
The vehicle slowed onto the shoulder, tires cutting through water.
Cameron wiped one hand down his face and changed expressions before the SUV fully stopped.
The rage disappeared.
The husband appeared.
Polished.
Concerned.
Almost believable.
He grabbed the phone and ended the call.
Then he looked at Julia.
“Say one word and you will regret it.”
The dashboard recording light blinked again.
Julia looked at it.
Then at him.
“I already do.”
A trooper approached through the rain, hat low, flashlight steady.
Cameron lowered his window.
Rain blew inside.
“Evening, officer.”
His voice was perfect.
The trooper looked from Cameron to Julia.
Then to the papers clutched in her hands.
“Sir, do you know why I stopped you?”
Cameron smiled tightly.
“Speed, I assume.”
“Speed.”
The trooper’s eyes moved to the wet road behind them.
“And erratic lane movement.”
Cameron gave a practiced laugh.
“My wife and I had an argument.”
Julia stared forward.
The word wife sounded grotesque in his mouth.
The trooper leaned slightly.
“Ma’am, are you safe?”
The question entered the SUV like fresh air.
Cameron’s hand tightened on the wheel.
Julia felt him looking at her.
Warning her.
Training her.
Reminding her of every dinner where she had smoothed his tone for guests, every board function where she translated his cruelty into stress, every apology she accepted because power looked better when it kept a woman quiet beside it.
Her hand closed around the papers.
The red recording light pulsed again.
She turned her head toward the trooper.
“No.”
Cameron’s face collapsed.
Only for a second.
Then he recovered too quickly.
“Julia.”
The trooper’s voice hardened.
“Sir, keep your hands visible.”
Cameron lifted both hands from the wheel.
“This is ridiculous.”
The trooper looked at Julia.
“Ma’am, can you step out of the vehicle?”
Julia reached for the door.
Cameron whispered, “Don’t.”
The trooper heard.
His expression changed.
“Sir, step out of the vehicle now.”
Cameron opened his door angrily.
The rain swallowed him as he stepped onto the shoulder.
Julia climbed out on the other side, clutching the papers to her chest.
Her heels sank slightly into wet gravel.
She was shaking.
The trooper guided her toward the rear of the SUV, away from Cameron.
“My name is Trooper Daniel Marsh.”
He kept his voice calm.
“Tell me what happened.”
Julia looked at the SUV.
At the dashboard.
At the faint red blink behind the glass.
Then at Cameron standing in the rain, trying to look offended instead of afraid.
“He forced me into the car.”
Her voice trembled.
“He told me to sign divorce papers before we reached the bridge.”
Cameron shouted, “That is a lie.”
Trooper Marsh turned.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
Julia lifted the papers.
“I wrote under duress.”
The trooper looked at the signature line.
His face changed.
Then Julia said the sentence Cameron was not ready to hear.
May you like
“The car recorded everything.”
Continue to PART 3 to discover why Julia knew the SUV could record inside the cabin, and why Cameron chose the bridge as his deadline.
