Chapter 12 - THE WOMAN I THOUGHT I KNEW
By then, Teresa had hired a lawyer.
She denied everything.
The forged documents?
Mason.
The money transfers?
Family gifts.
The storage unit?
Not hers.
The handwriting?
Fake.
The birthday party?
A misunderstanding.
The brake line?
She had no idea.
Then detectives showed her video from a traffic camera.
Her SUV entering Mason’s neighborhood the night before my truck was sabotaged.
She stopped talking.
I sat behind glass during one interview.
I wanted to see her face.
Daniels asked, “Why did you target your son?”
Teresa smiled.
“I didn’t.”
“You took his money.”
“He gave it to me.”
“You forged documents.”
“I did not.”
“You told relatives you controlled his household.”
“I helped him.”
“You withheld money from his wife.”
“She’s irresponsible.”
“You took her keys while her baby had a fever.”
“She overreacts.”
Daniels leaned forward.
“You wrote that Amy had to be removed.”
My mother’s jaw tightened.
“That woman destroyed my family.”
I felt something cold move through me.
Daniels said, “How?”
“She took my son.”
“He’s thirty-eight.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand he’s an adult.”
“He was mine first.”
The room went silent.
Even Daniels looked surprised.
My mother continued.
“I raised him when his father worked all the time. I fed him. I clothed him. I sacrificed everything.”
“So he owes you his life?”
“He owes me loyalty.”
“And Amy?”
“Amy taught him to question me.”
I remembered the wedding.
My mother refusing to smile in photos.
The day Frederick was born.
Teresa telling Amy, “A mother comes and goes. Grandmothers are forever.”
I had laughed.
I thought she was joking.
Daniels placed the photo of the highway map on the table.
“What was supposed to happen September 16?”
Teresa looked at it.
Nothing.
“What was the final option?”
Silence.
“Your son was scheduled to drive across that bridge.”
My mother looked directly into the camera.
Directly at me.
Even though she couldn’t see me.
Then she smiled.
“Connor always drove too fast.”
Amy squeezed my hand.
I stood up.
“I’m done.”
I walked out.
Then Teresa raised her voice behind me.
“You think she loves you?”
I stopped.
“She loves your paycheck!”
I kept walking.
“She’ll leave you!”
I reached the hallway.
“You’ll come back to me, Connor!”
The door shut behind me.
I didn’t turn around.
That night, Amy sat beside me on Rachel’s couch.
“I don’t know how to trust anything anymore,” she said.
“Neither do I.”
“Us included?”
I looked at her.
She was crying.
I took her hand.
“I failed you.”
“You were manipulated too.”
“I still failed you.”
She didn’t argue.
That hurt more.
Then she said, “I need to tell you something.”
My heart sank.
May you like
“What?”
“I was planning to leave.”
