"I deleted them." Her voice is firm, certain. "I deleted every single message without responding. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of engaging with his manipulation."
"Lisa." Rebecca's voice is carefully controlled. "Did you respond to any of the messages? Any contact at all?"
"No. None." Lisa's voice gets stronger, more defiant. "I knew he was trying to get under my skin, trying to make me doubt myself and my decisions. So I refused to play his game."
"Smart move." I run a hand through my hair, trying to process this. "Why didn't you tell me about the messages?"
"Because I handled it. Because I didn't want to give Derek the power to disrupt our wedding day." She turns to look at me, her green eyes blazing. "Because for twenty-eight years, I've been making my own decisions, and deleting those messages was the right call. He’s still sending messages, though."
The honesty in her voice, the smart choice she made despite the pressure, makes me want to pull her close and tell her how proud I am.
"What did the messages say?" Rebecca asks.
"He offered me money to sign over my parental rights and disappear from Tommy's life completely." Lisa's voice is flat, matter-of-fact. "When I didn't respond, the messages got more threatening. He said I was making a mistake. That he had connections, resources, ways of making sure I'd never see Tommy again."
"Did he threaten you specifically in the messages?"
"Not in so many words. But the implication was clear." Lisa adjusts Tommy on her lap, and he reaches up to grab her necklace. "He said that single women with questionable judgment don't make good mothers. That courts tend to favor stable, wealthy families over... and I quote... 'desperate women clinging to children that aren't theirs.'"
The rage that's been building in my chest explodes into something white-hot and deadly. Derek Morrison threatened my wife through text messages, then stalked her outside her home.
"But you never saw him? Never knew he was watching you?" My voice comes out rough with barely controlled fury.
"Never. I was focused on packing, on getting ready for the wedding, on Tommy." Lisa meets my eyes steadily. "If I'd known he was outside the building, stalking me like some kind of predator..."
"You made the right call by not responding." The words come out sharper than I intend. "Lisa, not engaging with him, refusing to meet with him, that was smart. But this photograph proves he's dangerous. He was stalking you."
"I know that now." Her voice rises slightly. "But at the time, I thought I was just dealing with threatening text messages. I thought ignoring him was the best strategy."
"It was the right strategy. You didn't give him any ammunition to use against you." I can hear the possessiveness in my own voice, the claim that goes bone-deep. "But Lisa, when someone threatens my family, when they stalk my wife, they deal with me."
"I can take care of myself, Sawyer."
"I know you can. But you don't have to anymore."
The argument that's been building between us all day finally breaks the surface, crackling with tension and unspoken fears.
"This is exactly what I was worried about," Lisa says, her voice tight with frustration. "You wanting to control every situation, every decision I make."
"Control?" The word hits like a slap. "Is that what you think this is?"
"Isn't it? You want me to tell you about every text message, every threat, let you handle all the difficult situations."
"I want you to trust me enough to include me when you're being threatened. I want you to care enough about your own safety to let me know when predators are stalking you."
"I've been making my own decisions for my whole life, Sawyer. I'm not going to stop now just because we signed a marriage certificate."
The pain in her voice tells me this goes deeper than one hotel meeting. This is about control and trust and the fear that marriage means losing herself in someone else's wants and needs.
This is about Emma.
"Your sister tried to handle Derek alone too," I say quietly. "How did that work out for her?"
The words leave my mouth before I can stop them, and I know immediately that I've crossed a line. Lisa goes white, her hands tightening around Tommy until he makes a sound of protest.
"Don't." Her voice is barely above a whisper. "Don't you dare use Emma against me."
"Lisa, I didn't mean..."
