Chapter 4
No one spoke.
Michael stared at Evelyn's phone.
I looked at him.
Then at Evelyn.
The color had drained from her face.
“Your daughter?” Michael whispered.
David exhaled.
“Yes.”
Michael's eyes widened.
“My sister?”
“Half sister.”
I grabbed the table.
Suddenly the room felt too small.
Michael had been sleeping with his own half sister?
No.
That couldn't be right.
His face showed the same horror.
“What are you saying?”
David rushed to answer.
“She isn't my biological daughter.”
The room exhaled and tightened at the same time.
Michael shouted.
“Then don't call her your daughter!”
“I raised her for years.”
“When?”
“After I left.”
Evelyn stared at the phone.
“You left me for Vanessa's mother?”
David went silent.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
That was the answer.
“Oh my God.”
Her voice broke.
“The woman you left me for had a child.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped raise her.”
“Yes.”
“How old is Vanessa?”
“Thirty-two.”
Michael was thirty-seven.
He looked sick.
“So she knew you.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about me?”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
That mattered.
If Vanessa knew David.
If she knew Michael was his son.
Then she had not met him accidentally at a gym.
“What did she want?”
David did not answer.
“Dad.”
“Michael, listen to me.”
“No.”
Michael's voice shook with rage.
“You tell me what she wanted.”
“She hates me.”
“So?”
“She hates Evelyn.”
Evelyn laughed in disbelief.
“She doesn't know me.”
“She thinks she does.”
“What did you tell her?”
David exhaled.
“Too much.”
Evelyn's face hardened.
“You spent years telling another woman's daughter stories about me?”
“I was angry.”
“You abandoned me.”
“I know.”
“You staged your death.”
“I know.”
“You emptied our savings.”
“I know.”
“And somehow you made me the villain?”
David said nothing.
I could almost hear Evelyn's heart breaking.
She turned away from the phone.
Michael took over.
“Why did Vanessa approach me?”
“I'm not completely sure.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Dad.”
“I think she wanted money.”
“From me?”
“From Evelyn.”
Evelyn turned back.
“Why would she think Michael could get my money?”
“Because I told her about the house.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
“How much else did you tell her?”
David continued.
“She knows the property is still Evelyn's.”
“She knows about the investment account.”
Michael froze.
“What?”
My stomach dropped.
“How?”
“I told her you had money.”
“You knew about the account?”
David said, “You told me.”
Michael stared at nothing.
He had trusted his father.
His father had handed that information to the woman now sleeping with him.
“What else?”
Michael asked.
“She knows you're Evelyn's only child.”
“So she thought I would inherit everything.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn's jaw tightened.
“I am standing right here.”
David sighed.
“I know.”
“What exactly did Vanessa want?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did you call us?”
“Because she came to see me this morning.”
Michael stiffened.
“After leaving here?”
“I don't know when she was there.”
“She was in my house less than an hour ago.”
David cursed.
“What?”
“What happened?”
“She was angry.”
“About?”
“She said things were falling apart.”
“What things?”
“She said Sarah came home too early.”
I felt cold.
“She called you?”
“No.”
“She drove here.”
“Where are you?”
“Green Bay.”
Michael looked at me.
Three hours away.
Vanessa had somehow moved fast if David was telling the truth.
Maybe she had not gone there yet.
Maybe David was lying about timing.
Nothing felt trustworthy.
“What did Vanessa ask you for?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“And you have fifty thousand?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“She wanted documents.”
“What documents?”
David paused.
“Old property papers.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What property papers?”
“The original trust.”
Her face changed.
“What trust?”
I looked at her.
She seemed genuinely confused.
David said, “Your parents didn't leave that house to you outright.”
Evelyn sat slowly.
“What are you talking about?”
“They placed it in a family trust.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“My attorney transferred everything after Mom died.”
“You signed paperwork.”
“So?”
“You never read all of it.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You handled it.”
“Yes.”
Michael suddenly looked toward his mother.
“Dad handled Grandma's estate?”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
“He had financial experience.”
David laughed bitterly.
“And I used it.”
Evelyn whispered, “What did you do?”
“I changed something.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“When your parents created the trust, the property was meant to pass to you.”
“I know.”
“Then to Michael after your death.”
Michael looked surprised.
Evelyn did too.
“But I amended the paperwork.”
“You couldn't.”
“I forged signatures.”
Evelyn stood so quickly the chair scraped across the floor.
“You what?”
David's voice shook.
“I was planning to sell the property before I left.”
My skin prickled.
Evelyn looked murderous.
“You tried to sell my parents' home?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“The title company found the trust restriction.”
Evelyn laughed once.
“I hope that was humiliating.”
“It was.”
“Good.”
Michael interrupted.
“What did you change?”
David went quiet.
“Dad.”
“I added a beneficiary.”
“Who?”
“Myself.”
Evelyn's face went white.
“You tried to inherit my house?”
“If something happened to you.”
She stared at the phone.
“You are unbelievable.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Her voice shook.
“You spent our entire marriage taking pieces of me.”
“Evelyn.”
“Don't say my name.”
I felt like I was witnessing decades of pain finally breaking open.
But Michael was focused on something else.
“What does Vanessa want with those papers?”
David answered.
“She thinks the amendment still gives me a claim.”
“Does it?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I checked years later.”
“So why does she think it matters?”
“I didn't tell her it was invalid.”
Michael stared at the phone.
“You let her believe you own part of this house?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
David was silent.
Then I understood.
“You promised her money.”
His silence confirmed it.
“How much?”
I asked.
“A lot.”
“How much is a lot?”
David exhaled.
“Two hundred thousand.”
Michael laughed in disbelief.
“You promised Vanessa two hundred thousand dollars from a house you don't own?”
“She helped me.”
“With what?”
More silence.
“Dad.”
“Debts.”
Evelyn crossed her arms.
“She paid your gambling debts?”
“Some.”
“With what money?”
“She had savings.”
“From where?”
“I don't know.”
Michael's face changed.
He knew something.
“What?”
I asked.
He looked at me.
“The withdrawals.”
My stomach tightened.
“What withdrawals?”
“The investment account.”
“You said you gave David ninety thousand.”
“Yes.”
“Did you send it directly to him?”
He hesitated.
“No.”
I already hated the answer.
“To Vanessa?”
“Not knowingly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Dad gave me an account number.”
“And?”
“I transferred money.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-five thousand.”
“And the rest?”
“Cash. Other transfers.”
Detective work wasn't needed to see where this was going.
David said quietly, “That account belonged to Vanessa.”
Michael's face collapsed.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You had me sending money to the woman who later started sleeping with me?”
“I didn't know she would do that.”
“You introduced her to my money!”
“I never told her to approach you.”
“Did she know the transfers came from me?”
“Yes.”
Michael sat down.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Then I remembered that he had chosen to continue the affair for six months.
Vanessa's manipulation did not erase his choice.
I said it aloud.
“She may have targeted you.”
Michael looked at me.
“But you still cheated.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Don't use her manipulation as an excuse.”
“I'm not.”
“You chose every hotel.”
His face tightened.
“Every text.”
Tears appeared in his eyes.
“Every lie you told me when you said you were working late.”
“I know.”
“You weren't tricked into that.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at her son.
For once, she did not rescue him.
David spoke through the phone.
“Michael, I am sorry.”
Michael laughed.
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“You made me think I owed you.”
“I know.”
“You took my money.”
“Yes.”
“You gave Vanessa information about me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was angry at Mom.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't warn me?”
“I didn't think she'd do this.”
Michael looked at the ceiling.
“Everyone in this family never thinks.”
The sentence landed differently than he intended.
Because it included him.
He realized that.
Then the front doorbell rang.
All four of us froze.
I looked toward the door.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Michael whispered, “Stay here.”
I laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
Evelyn walked beside me.
Michael got there first.
He looked through the peephole.
His shoulders stiffened.
“Who is it?”
I asked.
He turned.
“Police.”
My heart jumped.
Michael opened the door.
Two officers stood outside.
One held a notebook.
“Michael Carter?”
“Yes.”
“We're looking for Vanessa Collins.”
Michael glanced at me.
“Why?”
The older officer looked at all of us.
“Her vehicle was found abandoned about two miles from here.”
My skin prickled.
“Is she okay?”
Michael asked.
“We don't know.”
“When?”
“About forty minutes ago.”
David's voice suddenly came through Evelyn's phone.
“What?”
The officer looked toward it.
“Who's that?”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“My husband.”
The officer looked confused.
Then David shouted.
“That's impossible.”
Michael picked up the phone.
“Dad, you said Vanessa was with you.”
“She is.”
Everyone froze.
The officer's expression changed.
“What do you mean she's with you?”
David's breathing became heavy.
“She walked in an hour ago.”
Michael stared at the police officer.
The officer asked, “Can you give me the address?”
David did.
The officer immediately stepped away to make a call.
I looked at Michael.
His face had gone pale again.
Something was wrong.
“What?”
He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He whispered, “If Vanessa is in Green Bay…”
“Yes?”
“Then someone else drove her car here.”
The second officer looked at him.
“Why do you say that?”
Michael pointed toward the street.
“Because Vanessa was driving that car when she left our house.”
The officer's expression sharpened.
“Did anyone leave with her?”
“No.”
I suddenly remembered something.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned toward me.
“When Vanessa walked out, she picked up her purse.”
“Yes,” Michael said.
“But she didn't take her coat.”
I pointed toward the chair.
Her black coat was still hanging there.
Michael frowned.
“So?”
“Her keys were in it.”
I had heard them jingle when she first stood up.
Michael walked toward the coat.
The officer stopped him.
“I'll check.”
He reached into the pocket.
Then pulled out a set of keys.
A car key.
Vanessa had left without it.
The room went silent.
The officer looked at Michael.
“You said you saw her leave?”
“Yes.”
“Did you actually watch her drive away?”
Michael opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
“No.”
I felt cold.
We had all assumed she left.
But none of us had watched her drive.
The officer asked, “Does your house have another exit?”
Michael looked toward the kitchen.
“Back door.”
We all turned.
Evelyn whispered, “It was open when I came in.”
My stomach dropped.
The officer's hand moved toward his radio.
Then a noise came from upstairs.
A floorboard.
Slow.
Heavy.
Everyone froze.
Another noise.
This time from the hallway above us.
Michael stared at the stairs.
The police officer raised his voice.
“Police. If anyone is upstairs, identify yourself.”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice answered.
Not Vanessa.
“Michael?”
His face went white.
I had never heard the voice before.
Evelyn had.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Michael looked at his mother.
“Who is that?”
Evelyn whispered the name like she had seen a ghost.
“Linda.”
May you like
David's girlfriend.
The woman he had left our family for.
