Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Red Dress
Tess didn't open the door immediately.
Beside Rebecca stood Lena.
That combination made no sense.
Tess checked the locks before walking into the foyer.
"What are you doing here?"
Rebecca's voice came through the door.
"I need five minutes."
"It's midnight."
"I know."
"Danny's asleep."
"We'll be quiet."
Tess hesitated.
Then she opened the door but kept the chain engaged.
Rebecca looked like Kieran around the eyes.
Once Tess saw it, she couldn't unsee it.
"Why is Lena with you?"
"Because I called her."
"Why?"
Rebecca looked at Lena.
"Because tomorrow morning could destroy Kieran's company."
Tess nearly shut the door.
"I'm done discussing his company tonight."
"This isn't about saving his company."
"What is it about?"
"Saving you from signing something you don't understand."
Tess froze.
"I haven't signed anything."
"Good."
Rebecca held up a document.
"Keep it that way."
Tess removed the chain.
They entered.
Rebecca declined coffee.
Lena sat at the kitchen table.
Tess remained standing.
"Five minutes."
Rebecca put the document down.
"Kieran thinks transferring assets into the family trust protects you."
"Lena said it does."
"Some of them."
Lena interrupted.
"Rebecca found something after we left."
Rebecca pointed to a paragraph.
"This clause."
Tess read it twice.
She understood almost none of the legal language.
"What does it mean?"
"It means one of Kieran's business guarantees may attach to an asset he's trying to transfer."
"Which asset?"
"The house."
Tess stared.
"This house?"
"Yes."
"But Kieran said—"
"Kieran doesn't know."
Lena leaned forward.
"The original guarantee wasn't in the digital files we reviewed. Rebecca found a scanned copy in her father's old records."
"Her father's?"
Rebecca gave Tess a sad smile.
"Our father."
The words sounded strange.
Tess sat.
Rebecca explained.
Years earlier, Kieran's father had helped finance the first Moreland development.
A dormant guarantee had been rolled forward through later agreements.
Kieran believed it had expired.
It hadn't.
"Tomorrow morning," Lena said, "we need to challenge it."
"Can you?"
"Probably."
"Probably?"
"I won't lie to you."
Tess almost laughed.
"That's becoming a refreshing change."
Lena accepted the criticism.
Rebecca looked toward the hallway.
"How is Danny?"
"Hurt."
"Kieran loves him."
"Love isn't the problem."
Rebecca nodded.
"No. Showing up is."
Tess studied her.
"You sound like you know."
Rebecca's face changed.
"Our father loved people in theory."
The kitchen became quiet.
"He'd send money. Birthday gifts. Letters. Then promise to visit and disappear."
Tess suddenly understood why Rebecca had come.
"Kieran became him."
"No."
Rebecca answered immediately.
"Not yet."
Tess looked away.
Rebecca continued.
"But he's moving in that direction."
"Did you tell him?"
"Tonight."
"Before the restaurant?"
"Yes."
That surprised Tess.
"What did you say?"
"I told him if he kept hiding things from the people he loved, eventually they'd stop believing anything he said."
Tess thought about Danny.
"Apparently you were right."
Rebecca's eyes lowered.
"I didn't want to be."
Lena checked the time.
"We should leave."
Rebecca stood.
"Tess, I'm not asking you to forgive him."
"Good."
"I'm asking you not to make any financial decisions until tomorrow."
"I won't."
Rebecca moved toward the door.
Then Tess asked, "Why did he hide you?"
Rebecca stopped.
"He told you about his mother?"
"Yes."
"That's part of it."
"What's the other part?"
Rebecca looked back.
"He was embarrassed."
"Of you?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"Of loving me."
Tess frowned.
Rebecca's eyes became wet.
"Because loving me meant admitting his father had lied to his mother. Kieran spent years believing loyalty meant pretending uncomfortable truths didn't exist."
That sentence followed Tess upstairs after they left.
Loyalty meant pretending uncomfortable truths didn't exist.
Wasn't that exactly what she had done?
She had called Kieran busy instead of absent.
Stressed instead of distant.
Overworked instead of unreliable.
She had protected the image of their family.
And Danny had paid for it.
The next morning, Kieran called at 6:12.
Tess answered.
"Did Rebecca come over?"
"Yes."
A long silence.
"You know about the guarantee."
"Yes."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that before you've changed anything."
He became quiet.
Then: "You're right."
That was new.
"I'm meeting Lena and Rebecca at nine," Tess said.
"I'll be there."
"No."
"Tess."
"I need one room where I'm not receiving information through you."
Another silence.
"Okay."
She almost didn't recognize the man agreeing.
Danny came downstairs at seven.
"Is Dad taking me to school?"
"No. I am."
He nodded.
No disappointment.
That worried her.
In the car, he asked, "Is Dad still my dad if you don't live together?"
Tess nearly missed the turn.
"Of course."
"What if you divorce?"
The word startled her.
"Who taught you that?"
"Jackson's parents."
Tess pulled into the school drop-off lane.
"Whatever happens between me and Dad, we're both your parents."
"And the baby?"
"Same."
Danny picked at his backpack zipper.
"Okay."
He opened the door.
Then turned back.
"Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't lie because you think I'm little."
Tess's throat tightened.
"I won't."
He got out.
At nine, Tess met Lena and Rebecca at Lena's office.
For two hours they reviewed documents.
The situation was bad.
But not hopeless.
The company could survive if Kieran sold two developments, accepted a major loss, and gave up control of a third.
Their house could likely be protected.
But Kieran's lifestyle would change.
Significantly.
At eleven thirty, Lena closed the folder.
"There's one more issue."
Tess almost laughed.
"Of course there is."
Lena didn't smile.
"Kieran didn't come to me originally."
"What?"
"Someone else hired my firm."
Tess looked at Rebecca.
She seemed equally surprised.
"Who?"
Lena hesitated.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
"It's Kieran."
"Answer."
Lena did.
"Kieran?"
His voice was loud enough that Tess heard it.
"Lena, don't file anything."
"Why?"
"Because I found the missing agreement."
Everyone went still.
"Where?"
"In my father's storage unit."
Rebecca stood.
"That's impossible."
Kieran continued.
"And Rebecca..."
He paused.
"What?" she demanded.
"Your name is on it."
Rebecca's face drained of color.
Tess stared at her.
Lena put the phone on speaker.
Kieran said one final sentence.
"Rebecca, Dad didn't leave you out of the company."
May you like
A pause.
"He made you half-owner."
