Chapter 5
I refused to believe it.
Not because I trusted Patricia.
I didn't.
Not anymore.
But because there are some possibilities your mind rejects before they fully form.
I pointed at James.
“Do not finish that sentence.”
He looked sick.
“Sarah—”
“No.”
I shoved the photograph back into the box.
“Daniel is my husband.”
“I know.”
“If you're suggesting Robert was—”
“I don't know what I'm suggesting.”
“Then stop.”
Emily looked between us.
“Mom?”
I forced myself to breathe.
“Everything's okay.”
James closed his eyes.
Neither of us believed me.
Evelyn was still on the video call.
Her voice came through the phone.
“Sarah.”
I picked it up.
“Yes?”
“Do not speculate in front of Emily.”
Shame hit me.
She was right.
I looked at my daughter.
“Sweetheart, can you sit with the bank lady outside for a minute?”
Emily immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“I'm right here.”
“No.”
She grabbed my hand.
“I'm not leaving you.”
After what happened the night before, I couldn't force her.
Evelyn seemed to understand.
“Then let's focus only on what we know.”
I nodded.
“What do we know?”
“That Robert Hale created your trust seventeen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“That Patricia Bennett had access to information about it through her former employer.”
“Yes.”
“That Robert believed Patricia had a personal reason for interfering.”
I stared at the photograph.
“And?”
“And nothing more until we have evidence.”
James slowly sat down.
“I want a DNA test.”
I looked at him.
“For Daniel?”
“For myself and Daniel.”
I almost shouted.
Then I saw his face.
This wasn't gossip to him.
This was the possible collapse of forty years of fatherhood.
“You raised him,” I said quietly.
James looked at me.
“So did William Carter raise you.”
That stopped me.
“He was my dad.”
“And Daniel is my son.”
His voice broke.
“No test changes that.”
For one moment, the anger between us disappeared.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A text.
You need to bring Emily home. We can fix this before lawyers destroy us.
Daniel.
I blocked the number.
Another appeared thirty seconds later.
Sarah, don't make me fight you.
I showed James.
He swore.
Evelyn said, “Save screenshots of everything.”
A third message came.
Mom has documents that can destroy your mother. Think before you choose sides.
My blood ran cold.
I called my mother.
She answered immediately.
“Sarah?”
“What does Patricia have on you?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Daniel says she has documents that can destroy you.”
My mother's breathing changed.
“Where are you?”
“Answer me.”
“Not over the phone.”
I nearly screamed.
“I am done hearing that sentence.”
“Sarah, please.”
“What did you do?”
“I protected you.”
“People keep saying that right before telling me another lie.”
She began crying again.
“Robert gave me money.”
I closed my eyes.
“How much?”
“Over the years?”
“How much?”
“Almost a million dollars.”
James stared at me.
I couldn't speak.
My mother rushed on.
“It wasn't payment to keep you away.”
“What was it?”
“Support. College. Your medical bills. Your wedding.”
“My wedding?”
“Yes.”
Daniel had told me Patricia and James paid most of the wedding expenses.
Another lie.
“Where is the money?”
“Gone.”
“How?”
“Life, Sarah.”
“Almost a million dollars?”
“I paid off the house. I helped you through college.”
“I had student loans.”
“I couldn't explain where the money came from.”
“So you let me take loans?”
“I was trying to keep things normal.”
I laughed.
Evelyn closed her eyes on the screen.
Even James looked stunned.
Then my mother whispered, “Patricia found out Robert was helping me.”
“And?”
“She threatened to tell you I had taken money from a married man.”
“He was my father!”
“I know.”
“Did you sign something?”
Silence.
“Mom.”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“What?”
“An agreement.”
“What kind of agreement?”
“That I would not assist Robert in contacting you.”
James stood.
“What?”
My mother heard him.
“Is James there?”
“Yes.”
“Sarah, get away from him.”
James stared at the phone.
“Why?”
“He knows more than he's telling you.”
James whispered, “Linda.”
My mother began shouting.
“Ask him about the accident!”
James went white.
“What accident?” I demanded.
He shook his head.
“Not here.”
My rage exploded.
“No more. Right here. Right now.”
James looked toward Emily.
I understood.
Too late.
Emily had already heard.
“What accident?”
James sat down again.
“Twenty-one years ago, Robert was driving to meet your mother.”
I looked at the phone.
My mother was silent.
“He never made it.”
“But he died four years ago.”
“He survived.”
James swallowed.
“There was a crash outside Waco.”
“Was he hurt?”
“Yes.”
“How badly?”
“Broken back. Internal injuries. He spent months recovering.”
I stared at him.
“What does that have to do with you?”
James's eyes filled with shame.
“I was driving the other car.”
The room went completely still.
“What?”
“It was raining. I crossed the center line.”
My mother shouted through the phone.
“He'd been drinking!”
James nodded.
“Yes.”
I backed away.
“Oh my God.”
“I wasn't legally drunk, but I had been drinking.”
“Did Patricia know?”
“She was in the car.”
Of course she was.
“Daniel?”
“No. He was home.”
My head pounded.
“Did Robert know who you were?”
“Not then.”
“Did Patricia?”
James looked at the old photograph.
“Yes.”
There it was.
The connection.
“She knew she had almost killed him?”
“She blamed him.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
My mother made a sound over the phone.
I heard it.
Fear.
“Mom?”
“Sarah, leave.”
“What aren't you telling me?”
“Go somewhere Patricia can't find you.”
“Why?”
“Because if she's moving the trust assets now, she's desperate.”
“You're scaring me.”
“You should be scared.”
The call disconnected.
I immediately called back.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I grabbed the letters and flash drive.
“We're going to my mother's.”
Evelyn spoke sharply.
“Sarah, wait.”
“No.”
“If Patricia is involved in financial fraud and there are threats—”
“My mother just hung up terrified.”
“Call the police.”
“I will from the car.”
James followed me.
“I'll come.”
“No.”
“You shouldn't go alone.”
“You're half the reason I'm in this mess.”
“I know.”
I stopped at the door.
He looked destroyed.
I hated him.
But I also believed he was finally telling the truth.
“Follow in your own car.”
We reached my mother's house forty minutes later.
Her front door was open.
I told Emily to stay in the car with James.
Then I called 911.
I walked toward the porch.
“Mom?”
No answer.
The living room was empty.
A lamp lay broken on the floor.
Couch cushions were scattered.
Drawers hung open.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Mom!”
I ran toward the kitchen.
Nobody.
The back door was open.
Then I heard a phone ringing.
Her phone.
It was beneath the dining table.
I picked it up.
The screen was cracked.
One unread message glowed.
From Patricia.
I opened it.
You should have kept your mouth shut like you promised.
My hands went numb.
Then a second message arrived.
This one had a photograph attached.
My mother was sitting in the passenger seat of a car.
Her face was terrified.
May you like
Under the photograph were seven words.
Tell Sarah to bring me the key.
