Chapter 10 - MY BROTHER CAME HOME
Derek’s footsteps hit the stairs.
Melissa locked the office door.
“He’s going to kill me.”
I looked at her.
“Has he hit you?”
She didn’t answer.
The pounding began.
“OPEN THE DOOR!”
Melissa jumped.
“Derek, calm down!”
“YOU TALKED TO HER?”
I called 911.
Derek slammed his shoulder into the door.
The wood cracked.
“Police are coming!” I shouted.
“Good!” he screamed.
“I’LL TELL THEM SHE STOLE MY PROPERTY!”
The door shook again.
Melissa started crying.
“You don’t understand how bad he gets.”
I looked at her.
“Now you know how Mom felt.”
She closed her eyes.
The next impact broke the lock.
Derek burst inside.
His eyes landed on the laptop.
Then the flash drive.
“You.”
He looked at Melissa.
“You stupid—”
He rushed toward her.
I stepped between them.
“Stop.”
“Move, Rachel.”
“No.”
“This has nothing to do with you.”
I actually laughed.
“You forged my signature on my house.”
He shoved me.
I stayed upright.
Melissa grabbed the hammer from the desk.
“Stay away!”
Derek stopped.
“Put that down.”
“No.”
“You think she’ll save you?”
Melissa’s hands shook.
“You said Kane didn’t know.”
Derek’s face changed.
She continued.
“You said the deed was good.”
“Shut up.”
“You lied about everything!”
He lunged.
Melissa swung the hammer—not at him, but into the wall beside his shoulder.
The impact stunned everyone.
Derek froze.
Then sirens approached.
He looked toward the window.
“Give me the drive.”
“No,” I said.
“Rachel.”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
He pointed toward Melissa.
“She’s involved too.”
“I know.”
Melissa flinched.
Derek smiled.
“Did she tell you she slapped Mom before?”
I turned.
Melissa went pale.
“How many times?” I asked.
She said nothing.
“How many?”
“Three.”
The number hit harder than I expected.
Derek laughed.
“She’s been playing queen of the house for two years.”
Melissa screamed,
“And you grabbed her! You forced her to sign things!”
“Because you wanted money!”
“You wanted it too!”
The police entered downstairs.
Derek looked at us both.
Then something strange happened.
His rage disappeared.
He sat down.
Almost calmly.
“You want the truth?”
I stared at him.
“The whole thing started because Mom was going to change her will.”
Mom’s will?
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at me.
“Dad left money.”
I frowned.
“What money?”
Derek smiled.
“Exactly.”
Officers entered the room and ordered everyone apart.
But I barely heard them.
“What money, Derek?”
He stood and held out his hands for the cuffs.
Before they led him away, he looked over his shoulder.
“Ask Mom what Dad left in the safe-deposit box.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“And ask her why she never told you.”
