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Chapter 12: The Mistake She Made
publish date:
2026-03-19 23:15:27
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EYES OPEN Chapter 16: Mother
My mother has three modes.Warm, which is her default and her best. Concerned, which arrives when she suspects something is wrong and deploys itself as a series of increasingly loaded questions disguised as casual conversation. And activated, which is what three words and a full stop at nine forty five in the morning means and which is the mode that has historically preceded some of the most significant conversations of my life.I excuse myself from Rhys's living room and step into the hallway outside his apartment.I call her.She picks up before the first ring finishes. "Camille Marie Vann."Full name. Gosh."Hi Mum.""Do not hi Mum me," she says. "Stanley called your Aunt Patricia last night. Patricia called me this morning. Do you want to tell me what is happening with your marriage or do you want me to keep getting information from Patricia who got it from Stanley who got it from Derek which is the worst possible telephone game I have ever been subjected to?"I close my eyes brie
EYES OPEN Chapter 15: The Sister
Her name is Nora Callahan.I know this because Rhys says it under his breath like a man bracing for weather he has been watching approach from a distance and hoped would change direction.She walks in ahead of whoever is with her, small and sharp-eyed with dark hair cut blunt at the jaw and the specific energy of a woman who has decided something before she arrived and is here to execute it. She looks like Rhys around the eyes. Same directness. Same economy of expression.She stops when she sees me.Her gaze moves from me to Rhys and back to me and she does the entire calculation in about two seconds."You must be Camille," she says.I glance at Rhys."I did not tell her," he says immediately."Vivienne told me," Nora says, walking further into the apartment like she lives here, dropping her bag on the kitchen counter. "She called me last night. Forty minutes of crying and strategic information sharing." She turns and looks at her brother with an expression that contains many years of
EYES OPEN Chapter 14: What Vivienne Said
I do not call Derek back that night.I sit with his message for exactly as long as it takes me to get to my car, start the engine, and decide that whatever Vivienne told him was designed to be delivered at night when I am tired and off-guard and more likely to react emotionally.So I drive home. I wash my face. I go to bed.And in the morning, clear-headed and unhurried, I call him.He picks up on the first ring. "Camille, thank you for calling back, I need you to hear this before...""Good morning Derek," I say calmly. "What did Vivienne tell you?"A breath. "She said Rhys Callahan was investigated two years ago. By the police. A woman filed a report against him." He pauses. "A former girlfriend. She accused him of assault."I say nothing."Camille, I am not saying it is true, I am saying you are spending time with this man and I needed you to know.""Was he charged?" I ask."I... what?""Was he charged, Derek? Arrested. Prosecuted. Convicted. Any of those things."Silence. "I do not
EYES OPEN Chapter 13: Seven O'Clock
I change outfits three times.Which is ridiculous and I know it is ridiculous and I change a fourth time anyway because the third option looked like I was trying and the whole point is to look like I am not trying, which, now that I think about it, is itself a form of trying, so I am back to square one standing in front of my wardrobe in my underwear at six fifteen feeling genuinely annoyed at myself.It is a meeting, Camille. A strategic meeting between two adults navigating a shared problem.I put on dark jeans, a simple black top, my good coat.Done. Neutral. Functional. Absolutely not trying.I grab my bag and leave before I can change again.Rhys lives twenty minutes across the city in a building that is quiet and well maintained with a lobby that has no doorman, just a key fob system and clean lines and the kind of understated quality that does not need to announce itself. I find his floor, find his door, and stand outside it for exactly three seconds longer than necessary befor
EYES OPEN Chapter 12: The Mistake She Made
I figure out Vivienne's mistake at seven the next morning.I am standing at the kitchen counter with my coffee, scrolling back through every message she has sent from every number, laying them out in chronological order in my notes app like a timeline, and that is when I see it.She tipped her hand.The first unknown number texted me the morning after Rhys confronted her. The second unknown number appeared the same evening Derek came back for his watch. Both times she moved fast, emotionally, reacting to developments rather than planning ahead.And then she sent those photos to Derek.Here is why that is a mistake. Derek now knows Rhys exists. Which means Derek is going to look Rhys up. Which means Derek is going to find out very quickly that Rhys is Vivienne's husband. And when that lands, Derek is not going to call me.He is going to call Vivienne.And that conversation is going to be spectacular.I text Rhys: She sent Derek the photos.Rhys: I know. He called me last night.I nearl
EYES OPEN Chapter 11: Photos
I read the message three times.Then I screenshot it, forward it to my personal email, and save the number.Then I sit down on the couch because my legs have made a unilateral decision about standing.Photos. Someone has photos of me and Rhys at Archer's and they are threatening to hand them to Derek's lawyer. Which means someone was there deliberately. Not a coincidence, not Vivienne walking past, someone who knew we would be there and positioned themselves to document it.Which means this goes deeper than Vivienne sending threatening texts from an unknown number.I call Rhys.He picks up immediately. "Hey.""Someone has photos of us at Archer's," I say. "They just texted me. New number, not the same one as before. They are threatening to give them to Derek's lawyer."Complete silence.Then, very quietly, "Say that again."I read him the message word for word.Another silence. Longer."Rhys.""I am thinking," he says. "Give me a second."I wait. I can hear him moving around, a door c
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