Chapter 2 - The Secret Hidden In The Contract
The photo remained open on my phone for almost a minute.
I stared at it.
Then I zoomed in.
Then I zoomed in again.
Because my mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Tyler stood beside a conference table.
A pen was in his hand.
A stack of documents was in front of him.
But he was not alone.
The person standing next to him made my stomach drop.
My mother.
Margaret Carter.
My hands started shaking.
Not because I was angry.
Because I was confused.
My mother had spent the last year telling me she barely had enough energy to leave the house.
She had told me she hated paperwork.
She had told me she trusted me to handle everything after my father passed away.
But in the photo, she was standing beside Tyler.
Looking serious.
Looking like she knew exactly what was happening.
I looked at the message again.
No name.
No explanation.
Only one sentence.
"Ask him what he did with your father's house."
My heart stopped.
The restaurant noise disappeared.
The music.
The conversations.
The glasses.
Everything became distant.
“Emily?”
I looked up.
Vincent was standing in front of me.
I quickly locked my phone.
“I need to go.”
His expression changed.
Not surprised.
Concerned.
“What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
It was the same lie everyone told when something was clearly wrong.
Vincent studied my face.
“You’re not very good at pretending.”
I almost laughed.
Coming from him, that was strange.
“You don’t know me.”
“No.”
He glanced at my phone.
“But someone just sent you something that changed your entire expression.”
I looked away.
“I can handle it.”
He nodded slowly.
“I believe you can.”
I didn’t expect that answer.
Most people said things like that when they meant the opposite.
But Vincent didn’t.
He actually believed it.
That somehow made me more uncomfortable.
Because Tyler had spent four years convincing me I was weak.
Vincent had known me for less than an hour and somehow saw something Tyler never did.
Strength.
“I need to leave,” I repeated.
Vincent stepped aside.
“Then leave.”
I hesitated.
“You’re not going to ask questions?”
“I have learned something.”
“What?”
“People tell you the truth when they are ready.”
I looked at him.
“And what if they never are?”
His eyes moved toward Tyler across the restaurant.
“Then eventually, the truth finds another way.”
I didn’t understand what he meant.
Not yet.
I grabbed my coat from the employee area and left Bellini’s before anyone could stop me.
Outside, the cold air hit my face.
My car was parked three blocks away because employees were not allowed to use the front parking area.
I walked quickly.
Every step brought another question.
Why was my mother with Tyler?
Why was my father’s house involved?
Why did Tyler need $240,000?
And why did Vincent DeLuca know something was wrong?
When I reached my apartment, my mother was sitting at the kitchen table.
She looked tired.
Older than she had looked that morning.
The television was on, but she wasn’t watching it.
She was staring at my phone.
At the video.
At the moment Vincent kissed me.
I stopped.
“Mom.”
She looked up.
“Emily.”
Her voice was different.
Not angry.
Afraid.
“You should not have followed him.”
I froze.
“Followed who?”
She looked away.
“Vincent.”
The way she said his name bothered me.
Not like she knew of him.
Like she feared him.
“How do you know who he is?”
Silence.
That was the answer.
I placed my bag on the counter.
“Mom.”
She closed her eyes.
“Emily, some things are better left alone.”
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Left alone?”
I laughed quietly.
“Tyler humiliated me in front of an entire restaurant. Someone just sent me a picture of you signing documents with him. There is a missing $240,000. And you’re telling me to leave things alone?”
Her face changed.
A small crack appeared.
Fear.
Real fear.
“What picture?”
I unlocked my phone.
I handed it to her.
The second she saw it, she stopped breathing.
That scared me more than anything else.
Because my mother did not scare easily.
She had survived cancer.
She had survived losing my father.
She had survived years of financial problems.
But one photograph made her look like everything she had hidden was coming back.
“Where did you get this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Emily.”
“I said I don’t know.”
She pushed the phone away.
“You need to delete it.”
My chest tightened.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with worry.
“Please.”
That word hurt.
My mother had never begged me.
Not once.
“Tell me the truth.”
She looked down.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if Tyler knows you saw this…”
“He already knows?”
She didn’t answer.
I stepped back.
“Mom.”
A knock came from the front door.
Three slow knocks.
My mother went completely still.
Not surprised.
Terrified.
I had never seen that expression on her face before.
“Don’t open it,” she whispered.
My heart started racing.
“Who is it?”
She didn’t answer.
The knocking came again.
Harder.
I moved toward the door.
“Emily, no.”
But I was tired of being afraid.
Tired of everyone knowing things except me.
I looked through the peephole.
A man stood outside.
Gray suit.
Leather folder.
Professional smile.
The same kind of smile people wore when they were delivering bad news but wanted to pretend it was business.
He noticed the camera.
Then looked directly into it.
Like he knew I was watching.
My mother grabbed my arm.
“Do not let him inside.”
“Who is he?”
Her voice dropped.
“He works for Tyler.”
I stepped away from the door.
“Why would Tyler send someone here?”
My mother looked at the folder in his hand.
Then at me.
And for the first time in my life…
I saw my mother afraid of losing me.
The man knocked again.
“Ms. Carter?”
My blood went cold.
He knew my name.
“I need to discuss the property documents.”
My mother closed her eyes.
Property documents.
The same words from the message.
My father’s house.
My family’s only remaining asset.
The place my mother had protected for years.
The place Tyler had promised he would help save.
I turned toward her.
“Mom.”
She looked at me.
And whispered:
“Your father never gave Tyler permission to touch that house.”
The hallway outside became silent.
The man waited.
The folder remained in his hand.
And suddenly, everything Tyler had told me about helping my family started falling apart.
I reached for the door handle.
The lock clicked.
May you like
Then my mother whispered a name I had not heard in twelve years.
“Emily… don’t open the door. Vincent DeLuca is the reason your father disappeared…”
