Chapter 7 - THE DEBT
Frank went completely still.
“Fifty?”
Evelyn shut her eyes.
I looked at her.
“What did you do?”
She whispered, “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
Frank almost laughed.
“What wasn’t?”
She pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“Greg invested money.”
“In what?”
She didn’t answer.
“Evelyn.”
“A property.”
“What property?”
Daniel said, “Mom.”
She snapped at him.
“I’m talking!”
Then she looked at Frank.
“There was a house.”
“What house?”
“In Arizona.”
Frank stared at her.
“We don’t own a house in Arizona.”
“I know.”
The room erupted again.
I felt like every answer opened three more doors.
Evelyn wiped her face.
“Greg found a foreclosure. He said we could buy it, renovate it, sell it.”
“We?”
“I put money in.”
“How much?”
“Ten.”
“Ten what?”
She said nothing.
Frank’s face went gray.
“Ten thousand?”
“Initially.”
“Initially?”
She looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked away.
Frank followed.
“How much total?”
“Thirty.”
Frank grabbed the back of a chair.
I thought he might fall.
“Thirty thousand dollars?”
Evelyn raised her voice.
“It was an investment!”
“With Greg?”
“Yes!”
“While you were sleeping with him?”
She froze.
There it was.
The answer.
Frank looked broken.
Eric turned away.
Even Linda stopped defending her sister.
I watched Evelyn’s shoulders collapse.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Frank sat down.
Nobody knew what to say.
Then Daniel spoke.
“The house never existed.”
All eyes turned to him.
I whispered, “What?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Greg made it up.”
Evelyn snapped, “We don’t know that.”
“Yes, we do.”
“You don’t.”
“He sent fake documents.”
“How do you know?” Frank asked.
Daniel looked at me.
Then at his father.
“Because I checked.”
I felt my pulse pounding.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“And you told your mother?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She told me not to tell anyone.”
I laughed.
Of course she did.
Frank stood again.
“You knew for three months that your mother gave this man thirty thousand dollars?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“I was trying to fix it.”
“How?”
“He said he’d give it back.”
“If?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
I did.
“If Evelyn paid him more.”
Frank stared at me.
I pointed at my phone.
“Fifty thousand.”
Daniel nodded.
“He said if she paid fifty, he’d return everything and disappear.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“So why did you move twenty thousand for her?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Because Greg threatened her.”
“With what?”
He looked at Evelyn.
She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Daniel whispered, “Photos.”
Frank went silent.
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Photos.
Messages.
Evidence of the affair.
Greg wasn’t a lover anymore.
He was blackmailing her.
And instead of telling her husband, Evelyn stole from him.
Then framed me.
Then assaulted me.
All to keep the lie alive.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Then my phone buzzed again.
I looked down.
A new photo.
Not of me this time.
Of my front porch.
My house.
Taken that night.
May you like
And beneath it:
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED OUT OF FAMILY BUSINESS.
