Chapter 6
Arthur was true to his word.
That evening, two uniformed police officers arrived at my house. They took my statement about Sarah’s phone call. They promised to increase patrols in my neighborhood. And they left an officer in a squad car parked at the end of my driveway for the night.
I sat in my living room, staring at the flashing lights reflecting in my window, and tried to make sense of everything.
Fifty-six years.
I had spent fifty-six years wondering what my life would have been like if I had stayed with Thomas. If I had never gotten on that bus. If we had married young and grown old together.
And now here I was.
Married to him. Inheriting his fortune. Fighting his battles. Dealing with the monsters he had spent his whole life collecting.
The fairy tale I had imagined as a seventeen-year-old girl looked nothing like this.
But then… what had I expected? That after fifty-six years apart, we would have a few perfect months together and then he would die peacefully and leave me a nice inheritance and everyone would be happy?
Life wasn’t like that.
Especially not with Thomas Hale.
The next morning, Arthur called me early.
“They got the package,” he said. “All three of them. I’ve already received three panicked phone calls. Jason wants to turn himself in. Mark is screaming about conspiracy. Sarah… Sarah is threatening to kill me.”
“Kill you?”
“Empty threats,” Arthur said. “She’s desperate. Desperate people say stupid things. But the point is—they’re reeling. They know the embezzlement charges will put them away for ten to fifteen years. Minimum. They’re looking at spending their retirement in prison. And they know it.”
“So what happens now?”
“Now we wait. They have until five o’clock today to respond. If they don’t… we file the criminal complaint first thing tomorrow morning. And we leak the story to the press. Thomas Hale’s niece and nephews stole two million from him while he was dying. That’s not a love story anymore. That’s a crime story. And the press will eat them alive.”
I hung up and tried to busy myself. I cleaned the kitchen. I watered my plants. I folded laundry. But I couldn’t focus. Every time a car drove down my street, I tensed up. Every time the phone rang, I jumped.
At two o’clock, there was a knock on the door.
I looked through the peephole.
It was Jason. The youngest brother.
He looked terrible. His eyes were red. His hair was a mess. He was alone. No Sarah. No Mark.
I hesitated. Then I unlocked the door but kept the chain on.
“What do you want, Jason?”
He held up his hands.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said. His voice cracked. “I just want to talk. Please. Five minutes. That’s all I ask.”
I studied him. He looked genuinely terrified. Not angry. Not arrogant. Just… scared.
I closed the door, removed the chain, and opened it again.
“Five minutes,” I said. “And if you try anything, the police are five minutes away. There’s an officer at the end of the street right now.”
He nodded quickly.
“I know. I saw him. I wouldn’t be here if I wanted to cause trouble. I swear.”
I let him in. We sat in the living room. He perched on the edge of the couch like he was ready to run at any second.
“I’m sorry,” he said immediately. “For everything. For coming to your house. For the things Sarah said. For the will contest. All of it. It was Sarah’s idea. Hers and Mark’s. I went along with it because… well, because they’re my family. And I’ve always done what they told me to do.”
He looked at me with wet eyes.
“I never even wanted the money. Not really. I have a good job. I have a family. I don’t need millions. But Sarah… she’s always been obsessed with Uncle Thomas’s money. Ever since we were kids. She used to say it was unfair that he had all that money and we had to work for everything. She said it was our birthright.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“When we found out he’d married you and left you everything… Sarah lost her mind. She said you’d tricked him. That you’d brainwashed him. She hired the lawyers before any of us could even think about it. She said we’d be stupid not to fight. That thirty-two million dollars was worth any risk.”
“And the embezzlement?” I asked.
His face turned bright red.
“That was Sarah too,” he said. “At first. She started it about ten years ago. Small amounts. She said Uncle Thomas would never notice. Then Mark got involved. They pulled me in about three years ago. Said if I didn’t help, they’d tell Uncle Thomas I was the one who’d done it all. That I’d go to prison alone. I was scared. So I helped.”
He looked down at his hands.
“I’ve hated every minute of it. Every single dollar. I knew it was wrong. I knew Uncle Thomas would be heartbroken if he found out. And then… the package came last night. The records. The bank statements. Everything. I looked at it and I realized… he knew. He knew the whole time. And he let us do it. Just so he could use it against us if we ever came after you.”
He laughed bitterly.
“He always was smarter than all of us put together.”
I watched him carefully. There was something about him that felt genuine. Unlike Sarah and Mark, who radiated greed and hatred, Jason just looked… defeated.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
“Because I want to make a deal,” he said, looking up. “Just me. Not Sarah. Not Mark. They’re on their own. I’ll testify against them. I’ll tell the police and the courts and anyone else who will listen exactly what happened. Who took what. When. How. I’ll give you everything. All the emails. All the text messages. All the proof you could ever need.”
He leaned forward.
“In return… I want immunity. No prison. No criminal record. I’ll pay back every penny I took. Every single dollar. With interest. I just… I don’t want to lose my family. My kids. My wife. They don’t know anything about this. If I go to prison… their lives are ruined too.”
I stared at him.
This was a turning point.
If what Jason was saying was true… if he was willing to turn on his own sister and brother… then Sarah and Mark didn’t stand a chance. Not only would we have Thomas’s video and the embezzlement records… we would have a witness from inside their own family.
But could I trust him?
“How do I know you’re not just saying this to save yourself?” I asked. “How do I know you won’t turn around and lie for them in court?”
“Because I have proof,” he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small USB drive. “Everything. On here. Sarah’s own words. Her admitting she planned the will contest. Her admitting she stole the money. Her threatening that secretary twenty years ago. I recorded her. Last night. When she was screaming about what she was going to do to you and Arthur. I recorded all of it.”
He held it out to me.
“Take it. It’s yours. If I’m lying… if I change my story… you can use it against me too. Everything I’ve said here today… I’ll put it in writing. Sign it. Swear to it in front of a judge. Whatever you want.”
I looked at the USB drive in his hand.
This was the final piece of the puzzle.
Thomas had planned for almost everything. But even he couldn’t have predicted that Jason would have a conscience. That he would break ranks and come to me with everything.
I stood up.
“Wait here,” I said.
I walked into the kitchen and called Arthur. I told him everything Jason had said. About the testimony. About the USB drive. About the deal he wanted.
Arthur was quiet for a moment.
“Give me ten minutes,” he said. “I’m calling the prosecutor we’ve been working with. If Jason is willing to cooperate fully… immunity is possible. Especially if his testimony puts Sarah and Mark away for a long time. They’re the real prize. Jason is small potatoes.”
Ten minutes later, Arthur called back.
“Deal,” he said. “But it all has to be done properly. I’m sending a car for both of you. Bring the USB drive. We’re going to my office. We’re going to get everything in writing. And then… we end this.”
I walked back into the living room. Jason was still sitting on the couch, exactly where I’d left him. He looked like he hadn’t moved an inch.
“Alright,” I said. “We have a deal.”
He closed his eyes and let out a breath that sounded like it had been trapped inside him for years.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you so much.”
“Let’s go,” I said. “We have a lot of work to do. And not much time to do it.”
As we walked out to the waiting car, I looked up at the sky.
May you like
Somewhere, I thought, Thomas was watching. And smiling.
He had planned for almost everything. But the one thing he hadn’t counted on—the one thing that would end this once and for all—was that his own family would destroy themselves.
