Chapter 4 - THE TWENTY-THOUSAND-DOLLAR SECRET
“Daniel?”
Frank’s voice was quiet.
Dangerously quiet.
Daniel looked at his mother.
She shook her head.
Barely.
It was enough.
I saw it.
So did Frank.
“What does she not want you to say?”
Daniel exhaled.
“Dad, the money isn’t gone.”
Frank blinked.
“What?”
“It’s… complicated.”
“Where is it?”
Daniel rubbed his palms together.
“Mom moved it.”
“I know that. Where?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Frank stepped forward.
“Where is my money?”
“In another account.”
“Whose account?”
Silence.
Then Daniel said, “Mine.”
The room erupted.
“What?” I shouted.
Daniel flinched.
I stared at him.
“You have twenty thousand dollars of your parents’ money?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How was it?”
“Mom asked me to hold it.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
My chest tightened.
Two weeks ago.
Every night for two weeks, Daniel had come home, kissed me, eaten dinner with me, slept beside me.
And said nothing.
Frank looked sick.
“You helped her hide money from me?”
Daniel raised both hands.
“I didn’t know why.”
Evelyn jumped in.
“I told him I was protecting it.”
“From who?” Frank asked.
She didn’t answer.
I did.
“From you.”
Frank turned toward me.
I hated how broken he looked.
I almost wished I had stayed quiet.
Almost.
But then my lip throbbed.
And I remembered being dragged across the floor.
Evelyn had chosen this.
“Play the rest,” Frank said.
Daniel looked at me.
“Don’t.”
I ignored him.
The recording resumed.
The man’s voice came through.
“Once the money clears, book the room under my name.”
Then Evelyn:
“I can’t have Frank finding anything on the statement.”
Frank closed his eyes.
“Jesus.”
The man laughed.
“You’ve gotten away with it this long.”
Evelyn started crying.
Not the quiet kind.
The dramatic kind.
Hand on chest.
Breathing hard.
“You don’t understand what my marriage has been like!”
Frank opened his eyes.
“No. Apparently I don’t.”
“You ignored me for years!”
“I worked sixty hours a week to keep this family going!”
“You think paying bills makes you a husband?”
“And sleeping with another man makes you a wife?”
She slapped him.
This time, the entire family reacted.
Eric grabbed her arm.
“Mom!”
Linda shouted.
Grandma Rose started crying.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Enough!”
Evelyn twisted away.
“Everybody is attacking me!”
I couldn’t believe it.
“You attacked me.”
“Oh, stop pretending you’re innocent.”
“I am innocent.”
“No, you’re not.”
She pointed at me.
“You came into this family and turned my son against me.”
I laughed.
“Daniel just helped you hide twenty thousand dollars. I’m pretty sure he’s still on your team.”
Daniel looked at me sharply.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
“Don’t.”
“You keep telling me not to talk.”
“I’m trying to keep things from getting worse.”
I looked him straight in the eye.
“They’re already worse.”
Then my phone buzzed.
One message.
Unknown number.
I glanced down.
My blood ran cold.
I KNOW YOU RECORDED US.
DELETE IT NOW.
And beneath the message was a photo.
May you like
Of me.
Taken through my office window.
