Chapter 6
Vanessa was holding a pair of scissors.
She was trying to pry open box 742.
Ethan was standing guard, looking over his shoulder.
When they saw us, they froze.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jake said.
Vanessa dropped the scissors.
They clattered on the marble floor.
“Dad told us about the box,” Ethan said, his voice shaking. “Said there were old company documents in there that belonged to us. Said if we got them before you, we could make all this go away.”
Jake stepped toward him.
“Your dad is a murderer,” he said. “And you two are just as bad as he is.”
The bank manager came running over.
“What is going on here?” he said.
“This man is trying to steal property that belongs to my family,” Vanessa said, pointing at Jake.
The manager looked at the key in Jake’s hand.
Looked at the box number.
“Mr. Bennett,” he said, nodding. “This box was registered to Thomas Bennett. Deceased. You’re the sole heir. No one else has access. These two tried to force entry five minutes ago. I already called security.”
Two guards walked in.
Grabbed Ethan and Vanessa by the arms.
“Let go of me!” Vanessa screamed. “That box is mine! My family paid for everything in there!”
The guards dragged them out.
Vanessa’s screams echoed down the hall.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
Jake put the key in the lock.
Turned it.
The box clicked open.
Inside were three things.
A stack of leather-bound ledgers.
A thick medical file.
And a black-and-white photo.
I picked up the photo first.
Three young people standing in front of a small garage.
A young Tom Bennett, Jake’s dad, grinning with his arm around a girl.
And next to them, a young Richard Whitmore, scowling like he already hated the world.
I stared at the girl.
She had my mom’s smile.
My mom’s eyes.
The same scar above her left eyebrow that my mom had gotten when she fell off her bike at twelve.
“Jake,” I said, my voice shaking. “Look.”
He took the photo.
His face went white.
“That’s your mom,” he said.
I nodded.
I opened the first letter in the medical file.
It was from the doctor who’d treated Tom the night he died.
A signed confession.
Said Richard had paid him fifty thousand dollars to inject Tom with an overdose of his heart medication.
Said he’d lived with the guilt for twenty years.
Said he was dying of cancer now and wanted to tell the truth before he went.
I dropped the paper like it was on fire.
The ledgers were worse.
Page after page of handwritten numbers.
Proving Richard had stolen fifty million dollars from the company back in 1998.
Framed Tom for it.
Drove him out.
Left him with nothing.
And at the back of the last ledger was a handwritten note from Tom.
“Linda was the only one who believed me. She said she’d leave Richard and tell everyone the truth. But Richard threatened to hurt her girls if she did. Said he’d make sure Sarah and Vanessa never had a future. She couldn’t do it. I don’t blame her. I’d do anything to protect Jake too.”
I sank onto the bench in the vault.
Everything made sense now.
Why my mom had always been distant.
Why she’d always favored Vanessa.
Why she’d hated Jake the second she met him.
She’d spent thirty years running from the truth.
And now it had found her.
“We have to go to my mom’s,” I said, standing up. “Now.”
We drove to her house as fast as we could.
I ran up the steps.
Banged on the door.
No answer.
I turned the handle.
Unlocked.
We walked inside.
The house was quiet.
“Mom?” I called.
No answer.
I walked into the kitchen.
She was sitting at the table.
The same table where she’d told me I wasn’t worth the condo.
A half-empty bottle of wine in front of her.
A gun in her hand.
I froze.
“Mom?” I said, soft.
She looked up.
Her eyes were red.
“You saw the photo,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
I nodded.
“Tom was the love of my life,” she said, her voice breaking. “We were engaged. We were going to get married. Have kids. Build the company together. Then Richard came along. He wanted the company. And he wanted me. He told Tom if he didn’t sign over his shares and leave town, he’d kill me. So Tom left. Richard told me Tom had run off with his secretary. That he never loved me. I believed him. I married your dad six months later. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
She took a sip of wine.
“Ten years later, I found out the truth,” she said. “I went to Richard. Told him I was going to the police. He laughed. Said if I did, he’d make sure you and Vanessa ended up dead in a ditch somewhere. Said no one would ever find your bodies. I was scared, Sarah. I was so scared. I did everything he said. I let him control me. I let him turn me into a person I didn’t recognize. I pushed Tom away. I pushed you away. All to keep you safe.”
She looked at the gun in her hand.
“Vanessa called me an hour ago,” she said. “Said Richard told her if I don’t kill Jake tonight, he’ll kill both of you. Said it’s my choice. One life or three.”
I stepped toward her.
Slow.
“Mom, give me the gun,” I said.
She shook her head.
“I’ve spent thirty years being a coward,” she said. “I’m not going to be a coward anymore.”
May you like
She lifted the gun.
I screamed.
