Chapter 4 - The Price of Being the Favorite
It was Mom.
"No," she whispered.
The bracelet trembled around her wrist.
Dad looked at her.
Chloe looked sick.
I enlarged the photograph again.
Same bracelet.
Same clasp.
Same blue stone.
Mom shook her head.
"I wasn't there."
"Then explain it."
"I can't."
Dad said, "Old photographs prove nothing."
Michael laughed without humor.
"You've spent your whole life assuming everyone else is stupid."
Dad stepped toward him.
I moved between them.
"No fighting in my house."
My house.
The words mattered now.
Mom removed the bracelet.
"My mother gave me this."
"I know."
"There were others like it."
"Did you lend it to someone?"
"No."
"Then were you there?"
She closed her eyes.
"Yes."
The admission was almost inaudible.
Chloe whispered, "Mom?"
"I followed your father."
Dad's head snapped around.
"You never told me that."
"Apparently we all kept secrets."
For the first time in my life, Eleanor Mercer sounded tired instead of superior.
She sat at the counter.
"I knew Richard was hiding something. Money was disappearing. He'd started taking calls outside."
She looked at me.
"I thought he was having an affair."
That wasn't what I'd expected.
"So you followed him?"
"Yes."
"To the office?"
She nodded.
"I saw Daniel."
"What happened?"
"He and your father were arguing."
"About the accounts?"
"I didn't know then."
Mom described standing behind a row of parked cars.
Daniel held a folder.
Dad demanded it.
Then another man arrived.
Mom never saw his face clearly.
"He came through the side entrance."
Michael leaned forward.
"Could it have been someone from Dad's company?"
"I don't know."
"What happened to Daniel?"
"He left."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
That contradicted the dark story my imagination had been constructing.
"He walked away?"
"I watched him get into his car."
"Then why hide this?"
Mom looked ashamed.
"Because Richard saw me."
Dad stared at her.
"You said you went home."
"I lied."
"What did he do?"
"He told me Daniel was blackmailing the family. He said if Evelyn knew, she'd follow Daniel and destroy her life."
I laughed bitterly.
"And you believed him."
"I wanted to."
That sentence hurt because I understood it.
Sometimes believing a lie was easier than confronting the person telling it.
Nora had been quiet.
Now she tapped the photograph.
"Who took this?"
Everyone stopped.
She was right.
Someone had photographed all four of them.
Michael examined the image.
"This wasn't security footage."
"How can you tell?" I asked.
"Angle. Someone was across the street."
Nora swiped.
There were more photographs.
Daniel entering the office.
Dad arriving.
Chloe following.
Mom behind the parked cars.
Then another image.
A black sedan.
License plate visible.
Michael stared.
"I know that car."
"Whose?"
He looked at Dad.
"Your business partner."
Dad's expression hardened.
"Samuel Price."
The name was familiar.
Samuel had been Dad's partner for nearly twenty years before retiring suddenly.
As children, Chloe and I called him Uncle Sam even though we weren't related.
"Where is he now?"
Dad didn't answer.
Mom did.
"Arizona."
Nora searched the file metadata.
"These photos were uploaded six days ago."
Michael frowned.
"Again?"
"Whoever has Daniel's archive is actively adding things."
My phone buzzed.
A text.
UNKNOWN: Stop searching.
Then another.
You already lost Daniel.
Don't make Nora pay for your curiosity.
I stared at the words.
Every maternal instinct inside me ignited.
I showed Michael.
His expression changed.
"We call the police."
Dad immediately said, "No."
I turned.
"Excuse me?"
"Think before you create a scandal."
There it was.
His priority.
Not Nora.
Not me.
Reputation.
I picked up my phone.
"I'm done protecting this family."
Dad reached for it.
Mom stopped him.
"Richard."
He looked at her.
She said quietly, "Enough."
I called.
An officer arrived twenty minutes later.
Then another.
We explained the messages, the financial records, Daniel's recording.
They told us not to respond to the unknown sender and began documenting everything.
Dad hated every second.
Good.
For once, discomfort belonged to him.
After the officers left, Michael asked if Nora and I could stay somewhere else temporarily.
"No," I said.
Dad looked surprised.
"I'm not leaving my house because somebody tells me to."
Nora smiled slightly.
"That's my mom."
I squeezed her shoulder.
Chloe approached.
"Evelyn."
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
"That's going to take more than two words."
"I know."
She placed the PhD folder on the counter.
"I never wanted your house."
"You also didn't refuse it."
She accepted that.
"I was scared if I admitted the truth, they'd stop loving me."
I looked at her.
"And you were okay with them treating me like garbage as long as it kept you safe."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Yes."
At least she didn't lie.
That honesty was ugly.
But it was real.
Dad announced he was leaving.
Mom didn't follow.
He paused at the door.
"Eleanor."
She looked at him.
"I'm staying."
His expression hardened.
"Fine."
He left.
Chloe stared after him.
"He's going to destroy everything."
Michael asked, "What do you mean?"
She swallowed.
"There are more records."
"What records?"
"Dad's."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Samuel knew."
Michael immediately called someone.
No answer.
Nora was examining the transfer paperwork Dad had left behind.
"Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Come look at this."
She pointed to the deed.
At first, I didn't understand.
Then I saw the date.
The document wasn't prepared yesterday.
It had been notarized six weeks earlier.
My supposed signature was already on an attached preliminary authorization.
I hadn't signed it.
"That's forged."
Michael came over.
"Take pictures."
Nora already was.
Mom looked horrified.
"He planned this before Chloe supposedly graduated."
Exactly.
This wasn't an impulsive graduation gift.
Dad had been preparing to transfer my house for weeks.
Maybe longer.
"Why?" I whispered.
Nora turned another page.
A number appeared under PROPERTY ENCUMBRANCES.
There shouldn't have been any.
My mortgage was paid.
But according to the document, a private lien had been filed against the house.
Amount:
$287,000.
My stomach dropped.
"I don't owe that."
Michael's face went grim.
"Someone used your property as collateral."
"Can they do that?"
"Not legally without your authorization."
Chloe whispered, "Dad."
Mom shook her head.
"No."
My phone rang again.
This time the number wasn't hidden.
I recognized it.
Dad.
I answered.
"What?"
His voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Evelyn, listen carefully."
"What did you do to my house?"
"That's what I'm trying to fix."
"By stealing it?"
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
He exhaled.
"The transfer to Chloe wasn't a gift."
Everyone in the kitchen went silent.
I put the call on speaker.
Dad continued.
"It was supposed to protect the property."
"From what?"
A pause.
Then:
"Samuel Price."
Michael's face changed.
Dad whispered, "He didn't retire."
"What happened?"
"He disappeared."
"When?"
"Six days ago."
The same day someone began uploading files.
My phone buzzed while Dad was still speaking.
A photograph arrived from the unknown number.
It showed Dad standing outside my house.
Taken that morning.
Then another photograph appeared.
This one showed Nora walking home from school the previous week.
My blood turned cold.
Underneath was one sentence.
Ask Richard why your house is worth $287,000 to a dead man.
I stared at the message.
May you like
Then the front door slowly opened behind us.
Someone had a key.
