Chapter 4 The Real Problem Is You
My best friend, Lauren Riley, was a senior executive at an insurance company. She once told me that after seeing so many payouts, she had heard more than a few stories about husbands killing their wives for the insurance money.
Especially women like me–wealthy, with no parents to protect them. I was easy prey for a husband looking to take everything.
She had suggested, just to be safe, that I install hidden cameras in my home, aside from the more private areas like the bedroom
and bathroom, in case anything ever went wrong. 1
At the time, I thought it was overkill. Never did I imagine those cameras would actually save me.
The footage on my phone played, showing what really happened inside the car that day…
Paige, knowing full well that a mountain flood had broken out ahead and that the truck next to us was carrying heavy steel bars, still reached for the steering wheel, her face twisted in malice.
What followed was the scene I would never forget–five steel bars pierced through my body while she smiled down at me and said, “Carlee Hood, who do you think Dominic would save if we both crashed? My bet’s on me!”
Paige was a master of deception, always playing the part of the pure, gentle saint in front of Dominic.
When he saw the footage of her snarling and trying to kill me, he froze.
For a moment, I thought he might finally apologize–maybe show some guilt, some regret.
Instead, after a pause, he said, “Paige made a mistake, but she’s injured. She’s not well enough to go to jail.”
She wasn’t well enough to go to jail?
I had been skewered by steel bars, barely clinging to life, and I still hadn’t fully recovered. But when he eagerly asked the officers to arrest me, did my injuries even cross his mind?
My hands shook with fury as I glared at him. “You think one word from you will save her from paying for her crime? Dominic, who do you think you are? Some big shot? You’re nothing!”
His face darkened with rage. “She clawed her way out of poverty, and now you want to ruin her?”
Without a second thought, he stormed over to the window, yanked it open, and threw my phone into the river below. “Carlee, the evidence is gone. You’ll never send her to jail now!”
When I saw how it went down, I felt nothing but deep disappointment.
I was right. It didn’t matter what Paige had done, as Dominic would always be on her side.
