Chapter 12 - The Last Trap
Jason’s face drained of color.
“How far along?”
“Ten weeks.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted Christmas to be special.”
I nearly laughed at the cruelty of that sentence.
Evelyn wrote something on a notepad and pushed it toward Jason.
DO NOT THREATEN. DO NOT PROMISE. ASK FOR PROOF.
“Send me the medical records,” Jason said.
Sarah began crying.
“You think I’d lie about our baby?”
“I think you forged my mother’s signature.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“I was trying to save our family.”
“No. You were trying to save yourself.”
Her crying stopped instantly.
The softness left her voice.
“If I go down, you go down with me. Your signature is on the deed. Your name is on the guardianship petition. Your login was used for the money transfer.”
“Tyler confessed.”
“Tyler will say anything.”
“Melissa confessed too.”
“She’s terrified.”
“And your uncle gave us the recordings.”
Silence.
Sarah had not known about the flash drive.
When she spoke again, her voice was low and poisonous.
“You think your mother will protect you? She’ll sacrifice you to prove she’s strong.”
I took the phone.
“No, Sarah. I will tell the truth. If the truth protects Jason, good. If it exposes his mistakes, he will face them. That is the difference between love and control.”
“You always hated me.”
“I trusted you with my house key, my passwords, and your father-in-law’s papers.”
“You looked down on me.”
“I paid for your wedding.”
“You made me feel poor.”
“No. Debt made you feel afraid. Envy made you cruel. Neither one was my doing.”
Sarah breathed heavily.
Then she whispered, “You should have stayed away from the cabin.”
The call ended.
Two hours later, Jason received Sarah’s medical records.
They were real.
She was pregnant.
My anger did not disappear, but it became more complicated. An innocent child was now tied to the disaster.
Jason filed for divorce the next morning.
He also agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors.
Before we could leave Evelyn’s office, an emergency alert appeared on my phone.
Motion detected at Mountain Cabin—Rear Entrance.
The security video loaded.
Larry Collins stood outside with a red gasoline can.
May you like
He smashed the rear window.
Then he climbed inside my house.
