PART 19
The Prescotts’ influence was real.
Their family funded hospital wings, political campaigns, arts programs
and universities.
But influence was not a magic key.
Margaret’s claim that they had friends in state government did not mean
those friends controlled police, prosecutors, judges, hospitals and
private digital systems.
Power often depends on people believing it is larger than it actually
is.
The Prescotts had spent years encouraging that belief.
Emily had believed it too.
That was part of why she stayed.
PART 20
She told me the violence had not begun that night.
That revelation hurt differently.
Ethan had shoved her once six months earlier.
He apologized.
He cried.
He blamed stress.
Later he broke a bathroom door during an argument.
Then he began monitoring spending.
He wanted passwords.
He criticized friends.
Margaret called Emily “unstable” whenever she objected.
Brandon made jokes about “training” new wives to understand the family.
Emily had hidden all of it from me.
“Why didn’t you call?”
She looked at my uniform hanging behind the door.
“Because you’re you.”
