Chapter 6
My brother Daniel lived twenty minutes from my parents.
Dad called him from Ashley’s apartment.
Daniel didn’t answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Mom begged him not to leave a message.
That made Dad even angrier.
“What are you protecting now?”
“I’m trying to keep this family together.”
Dad stared at her.
“There is no family left to keep together if everybody is lying.”
Mom flinched.
I understood exactly how she felt.
Dad called Daniel a third time.
Voicemail.
He left one sentence.
“Call me in ten minutes or I’m coming to your house.”
Daniel called back in three.
Dad put the phone on speaker.
“Dad?”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Stay there.”
“What’s going on?”
Dad looked at Mom.
“Ask your mother.”
Daniel went silent.
That was enough.
Dad’s face changed.
“You know.”
“Dad—”
“You know about the money.”
“Let me explain.”
“You have thirty minutes.”
Dad hung up.
We left Ashley’s apartment.
She came with us.
I didn’t want her there.
But she had the records.
And at this point, I didn’t trust anyone enough to leave evidence behind.
Mom followed in her car.
The drive felt endless.
I kept thinking about Daniel.
My older brother had always been the charming one.
Funny.
Popular.
The one Mom defended no matter what.
He had started businesses.
Closed businesses.
Started more.
Dad had helped him several times.
I knew Daniel had money problems.
I didn’t know he owed half a million dollars.
We pulled into his driveway.
His truck was outside.
So was a black Mercedes I didn’t recognize.
Dad walked straight to the door.
Daniel opened it before we knocked.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Red eyes.
Wrinkled shirt.
Then he saw Ashley.
“Who’s she?”
Dad stepped inside.
“Where’s the money?”
Daniel closed the door.
“What money?”
Dad laughed.
“Don’t insult me.”
Mom entered behind us.
Daniel looked at her.
“Mom.”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t tell them everything.”
Dad spun around.
“Everything?”
Daniel cursed.
I looked at my brother.
“Why did three hundred thousand dollars stolen from Dad’s company get transferred into an account with your name?”
Daniel stared at me.
“What?”
“Don’t.”
“No, I’m serious. What are you talking about?”
Ashley pulled out her laptop.
“I have the transfer.”
Daniel looked at Mom again.
His expression changed.
“Mom, what did you do?”
She started crying.
Dad said, “Apparently that is the family question of the day.”
Daniel sat down.
“I never got three hundred thousand.”
Ashley opened the record.
“Yes, you did.”
She showed him.
Daniel leaned closer.
“That’s not my account.”
“It has your name.”
“I don’t bank there.”
Dad looked at him.
“Do you recognize the routing details?”
“No.”
“The address?”
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then he went pale.
“That’s my old office.”
Mom sat down.
Daniel turned toward her.
“You used my information?”
Mom didn’t answer.
“Mom!”
“I was trying to help you.”
His mouth fell open.
“With stolen money?”
“I didn’t know how bad it would become.”
Dad shouted, “How bad did you think theft would become, Linda?”
Mom covered her ears.
Daniel stood.
“I told you not to give me any more money.”
I stared at him.
“You knew she was taking money?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“She’s been paying my debts.”
“How?”
“I thought it was from her personal account.”
Dad looked at Mom.
“How long?”
She whispered, “Two years.”
The room went silent.
Dad looked like he had stopped breathing.
“Two years?”
Mom nodded.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“Maybe one hundred twenty thousand.”
Daniel immediately said, “Not that much.”
Mom looked at him.
“Yes.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“I paid the loan last fall.”
“I thought Dad did.”
Dad said, “I didn’t even know about it.”
Daniel sat down again.
He looked ashamed.
“I had a construction supply company.”
“I know,” I said.
“It failed.”
“We know.”
“What you don’t know is I borrowed privately to keep it alive.”
Dad’s voice became quiet.
“From who?”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“People I shouldn’t have borrowed from.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“Loan sharks?”
“No. Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Private lenders. High interest. Guys who fund risky businesses.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred sixty thousand at the worst point.”
Dad stared at him.
“You were almost half a million dollars in debt and never told me.”
“I was embarrassed.”
“So you told your mother.”
“She figured it out.”
Mom whispered, “He was going to lose his house.”
Daniel looked at her.
“And I told you I would sell it.”
“You have two children.”
“That doesn’t mean you steal from Dad.”
She started crying harder.
“I wasn’t stealing then.”
Dad turned sharply.
“What does that mean?”
Mom froze.
There it was.
Another secret.
Dad stepped toward her.
“Where did the money come from two years ago?”
Mom said nothing.
“Linda.”
“An investment account.”
“Whose?”
“Ours.”
“I would know if one hundred twenty thousand dollars disappeared.”
“You didn’t.”
Dad went quiet.
His face slowly changed.
“You had another account.”
Mom lowered her head.
He laughed once.
Thirty-four years of marriage.
A hidden account.
A son’s secret debt.
A stolen business token.
Dad sat down.
For a moment, he looked old.
Not the strong man who had stepped between me and Ryan.
Just tired.
“Where did the money in the hidden account come from?”
Mom whispered, “I saved it.”
“From what?”
“Household money.”
“How much?”
“Over the years.”
Dad stared at her.
Daniel said, “Dad, I didn’t know.”
Dad didn’t look at him.
I felt anger rising.
Not just at Mom.
At Daniel too.
“You let her pay your debts without asking where the money came from?”
He looked at me.
“I thought she had savings.”
“One hundred thousand dollars?”
“I was desperate.”
“So was everybody today, apparently.”
He flinched.
Good.
I was tired of being the only person who felt guilty.
Ashley spoke from the corner.
“There’s a bigger problem.”
We all turned.
She had been checking records while we argued.
“What?” Dad asked.
“The three hundred thousand dollar transfer into Daniel’s name was not initiated from the same device as the others.”
Dad walked over.
“What does that mean?”
“The first transfers came from a login associated with Ryan’s home internet and the security token.”
My stomach tightened.
“Our house.”
“Yes.”
“But the Daniel transfer?”
Ashley pointed at the login record.
“It came from a different IP address.”
Daniel asked, “Where?”
She looked at him.
“Your mother’s house.”
Dad slowly turned toward Mom.
Mom stood.
“No.”
Ashley continued.
“Two days ago.”
Mom stared at the screen.
“I didn’t do that.”
Dad’s voice was almost a whisper.
“The transfer came from our home?”
“Yes.”
“I was at work.”
Mom shook her head.
“I wasn’t home either.”
“Where were you?”
“With her.”
She pointed at me.
I thought back.
Two days earlier, Mom had taken me to lunch.
She had stayed with me almost three hours.
Dad looked at me.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
Ashley frowned.
“Then someone else used the house.”
Daniel asked, “Does Ryan have access?”
Mom looked at me.
Of course he did.
Ryan had been at my parents’ house hundreds of times.
He knew the garage code.
Dad’s home office password had once been written inside a desk drawer.
Mom had given him the security token.
Ashley typed rapidly.
“Wait.”
We watched.
“There was a second login fifteen minutes later.”
“From where?” Dad asked.
She looked at Daniel.
“Your old office.”
Daniel swore.
“I haven’t been there in eight months.”
Dad asked, “Who has keys?”
“The landlord. Me. Maybe my former partner.”
“What former partner?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Evan Cole.”
Dad frowned.
“I know that name.”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“He invested in my company.”
Dad stared at him.
“He’s one of the people you owe.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Mom whispered, “Daniel.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
“How much?”
“About two hundred grand.”
I leaned against the wall.
Every answer created another problem.
Dad asked, “Does Evan know Ryan?”
Daniel looked at me.
Then away.
My heart sank.
“You’ve seen them together.”
Daniel nodded.
“When?”
“Last month.”
“Where?”
“At a restaurant in Plano.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“You saw my husband meeting the man you owe two hundred thousand dollars to and didn’t think it mattered?”
“I thought it was business.”
“What business?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Ryan said he could help refinance my debt.”
Dad laughed bitterly.
“With stolen money.”
Daniel snapped, “I didn’t know that!”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Daniel stood.
“I made mistakes. I know that. But I did not steal from Dad.”
Mom cried, “Neither did I, not that amount.”
Dad looked at her.
“You stole forty thousand.”
She looked away.
Ashley’s laptop made a sound.
A new email had arrived.
She stared at it.
“What?” I asked.
She didn’t answer immediately.
“What?”
“I set an alert on one of the accounts.”
Dad moved beside her.
Ashley turned the laptop toward us.
A transfer had just been attempted.
$95,000.
From Westbrook Property Holdings.
My fake company.
To an offshore payment service.
Dad asked, “Can it be stopped?”
“It was declined because the account was frozen.”
I looked at the timestamp.
It had happened two minutes ago.
Ryan was still trying to move money.
Right now.
Ashley clicked the security log.
Then she looked at me.
“The login came from your house.”
My heart stopped.
“Ryan left.”
Dad grabbed his keys.
“He went back.”
I called the police officer who had given me his card.
No answer.
I called 911.
Then we all headed for the door.
But before we reached our cars, my phone rang.
Ryan.
I stared at his name.
Dad said, “Answer it.”
I put it on speaker.
“What?”
Ryan sounded strangely calm.
“You froze the accounts.”
“Yes.”
“That was stupid.”
“You tried to move ninety-five thousand dollars.”
Silence.
Then Ryan laughed softly.
“You really don’t understand what your mother did.”
Mom moved closer to the phone.
“Stop using me.”
Ryan continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“Tell your father if he calls the police about the money, he loses more than he thinks.”
Dad grabbed the phone.
“What does that mean?”
“Ask Linda what she signed.”
Mom froze.
Dad looked at her.
“What did you sign?”
Ryan laughed.
“Exactly.”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
Dad’s face changed.
“Linda?”
Ryan said, “You all want the truth so badly? Come home.”
I took the phone back.
“Why?”
“Because I found the original agreement.”
Mom suddenly ran toward me.
“Do not go.”
Ryan heard her.
“Hi, Linda.”
She looked terrified.
Dad asked again, “What agreement?”
Mom whispered, “Michael, please.”
Ryan’s voice came through the speaker.
“The one where your wife gave me permission to act on her behalf.”
Dad stared at Mom.
May you like
Ryan continued.
“And the one where she promised me ten percent of every dollar we recovered from you.”
