Chapter 5 - MY BEST FRIEND’S LIE
Ashley stood so quickly her chair scraped across the floor.
“I should go.”
“Sit down.”
“Elizabeth, you’re upset.”
“I’m bruised, betrayed, and extremely alert.”
She grabbed her purse.
Amy stepped in front of the door.
Not aggressively.
Just enough.
Ashley looked at her.
“Move.”
Amy smiled.
“No.”
I kept my voice calm.
“Christopher says if you leave now, that’s fine. But anything you destroy after this conversation could become evidence.”
Ashley froze.
That was a bluff.
Mostly.
But it worked.
She sat back down.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“You accessed confidential estate information.”
“I worked on the file.”
“And told Dwight.”
“No.”
I slid my phone across the table.
The video played.
Her own voice filled the room.
When are you telling Elizabeth the apartment was never happening?
Ashley covered her mouth.
I watched her carefully.
Not angry.
Not yet.
Anger would come later.
Right then, I needed information.
“How long?”
She whispered, “Six months.”
Amy cursed under her breath.
I kept going.
“Were you sleeping with him before we got engaged?”
Ashley cried.
“Liz—”
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
Something inside my chest cracked.
A year.
That meant when Dwight proposed in Charleston, Ashley had already been sleeping with him.
When she helped me choose my wedding dress, she had already slept with him.
When she cried during my engagement party, she had already betrayed me.
“Why?”
Ashley wiped her face.
“At first, it wasn’t about money.”
I laughed.
“Please don’t insult me.”
“He told me he was leaving you.”
“Yet he married me.”
“Because Jared pressured him.”
That caught my attention.
“Why would Jared care?”
Ashley looked toward the window.
“His business is in trouble.”
“What business?”
“Mercer Home Renovations.”
I knew Jared owned it.
I didn’t know it was failing.
Ashley continued.
“They owe suppliers. Taxes. Loans. More than two hundred thousand.”
“And my inheritance fixes that.”
She nodded.
“Dwight said once you were married, he could convince you to move the inheritance into a joint investment.”
“Convince?”
Ashley looked ashamed.
“At first.”
“What does that mean?”
She cried harder.
“He said if you wouldn’t do it voluntarily, Susan would make living there unbearable until you wanted to leave.”
I stared at her.
The chore list.
The humiliation.
The laundry.
It wasn’t just cruelty.
It was pressure.
They expected me to either submit or flee.
And if I fled after moving the inheritance?
Dwight would already have access.
“They planned the divorce before the wedding?”
Ashley nodded.
My stomach twisted.
“How much did you get?”
Her eyes snapped toward me.
“Nothing.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
“Ashley.”
She swallowed.
“Dwight promised me fifty thousand.”
Amy whispered, “Jesus.”
I leaned back.
Then Ashley said something that changed everything.
“But that’s not why Jared hit you.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
She lowered her voice.
“The family had a deadline.”
“What deadline?”
“Monday morning.”
My skin went cold.
The same Monday Dwight mentioned in Ryan’s recording.
Ashley looked directly at me.
“Dwight already filed something using your name.”
May you like
And suddenly, freezing twenty thousand dollars no longer felt like the emergency.
Whatever Dwight had filed was set to become legally effective in less than forty-eight hours.
