The man at the door looked at Mike with a smirk, then said sarcastically, “Lose something? Let me guess—your past?” Mike wanted to hit the guy right then and there, but held himself back and asked whether Annie lived there.
“That’s Anna Nicole to you,” the man said. “And why do you need my wife?” “Your wife?” Mike repeated, feeling as if someone had hit him in the head with a brick. “That’s right. Anna’s my wife. You’ve got five minutes to disappear and stay at least a mile away from this place.”
“Or should I call the police?” he added. Mike felt as if the world had tilted sideways. He stood there in a fog, watching the door shut in his face. Then he turned and walked away, barely able to process what had happened.
Somehow Annie learned that Mike had come by. Two days later she found a way to contact him through one of his old friends, a man named Wade.
Wade came by that morning and handed Mike a sealed envelope. As soon as Wade left, Mike sat down on the couch, opened the letter, and began to read. What he learned was the awful truth about everything that had happened after his arrest.
Annie wrote that the rude man from the club had found her the very next day. He called and said they needed to meet, promising he could help Mike. Annie was desperate and clung to any hope she could find, so she agreed right away.
At the meeting she learned his name was Glen. He told her he had strong connections in the police department and the prosecutor’s office and could fix Mike’s situation. But in return, Annie would have to do him a favor—be with him.
Annie was in complete despair, so she agreed. From that moment on, she was trapped in a cycle of blackmail and lies. Glen really did have connections—his father held a powerful position in the prosecutor’s office—but he had no intention of using them to help Mike.
His only real goal was Annie herself. He never kept his promise to help Mike. Worse, he threatened Annie, saying he would make sure Mike stayed behind bars for the rest of his life if she ever tried to leave.
Then the threats spread to Annie’s family. Glen turned out to be a paranoid, controlling man who gradually got exactly what he wanted. Annie became his wife, and they had a child together.
Everyone else had long since forgotten Mike—but Annie never had. That was why she wrote the letter as soon as she heard he was back in town. In it, she begged him to save her. She said she had spent all those years living with a tyrant who was now using even their child to keep her trapped.
Mike knew he had to act, but he had no idea where to begin. He talked to old friends, but none of them could offer real help. He was close to giving up when he got a call from his former classmate, Adam…
