Chapter 6
My father didn't shout.
He didn't run downstairs.
He simply stood beside me, staring through the window.
Outside, Jasmine and Adrian pulled apart.
Adrian said something I couldn't hear.
Jasmine nodded.
Then she handed him a thick envelope.
Dad's face looked empty.
For nearly a minute, neither of us spoke.
Finally, he stepped away from the window.
"Go back to bed, Maya."
I shook my head.
"Dad—"
"Please."
His voice wasn't angry.
That made it worse.
He sounded completely broken.
I followed him into the hallway.
"Don't go down there alone."
He stopped.
Then looked at me.
"I'm not going down there."
I blinked.
"You're not?"
He shook his head.
"Not tonight."
He took out his phone.
"I'm calling Daniel."
By sunrise, everything had changed.
Dad had photographed the vehicles from the upstairs window.
I wrote down what I'd seen.
Daniel advised us not to confront Jasmine or Adrian until he had reviewed the legal implications.
More importantly, he told Dad to protect his business records and preserve anything relevant.
When we arrived at Daniel's office, Rebecca Ellis was waiting.
She was a Black woman in her early forties with warm brown eyes and a calm, professional manner.
She worked for the institution holding my mother's trust.
After verifying our identities and confirming what she could legally discuss, she spread several documents across the table.
"Maya," she said, "your mother established a trust with specific provisions for your education and long-term financial security."
I nodded.
"The account was supposed to become fully available to me when I turned twenty-five, right?"
"Yes, subject to the trust's terms. Before that, authorized distributions were limited to certain purposes."
Dad leaned forward.
"Then how did the money disappear?"
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
"That's what our internal investigation is examining."
She showed us a series of transactions.
Some had been used for legitimate educational expenses.
Others were alarming.
Large withdrawals.
Transfers to unfamiliar accounts.
Payments connected to companies I'd never heard of.
The $185,000 withdrawal in the notice was only one part of the problem.
There were earlier transfers totaling another $72,000 that required investigation.
My hands went cold.
"That's more than two hundred thousand dollars."
Rebecca nodded.
"We've placed restrictions on further transactions while the matter is reviewed."
Daniel looked at her.
"Who submitted the requests?"
Rebecca couldn't disclose every internal detail at that stage.
But she confirmed that several requests involved documents identifying Jasmine as an authorized representative.
Dad covered his face.
Rebecca looked at me.
"Maya, I'm sorry you're dealing with this."
I stared at the records.
Every number felt like another piece of my mother's love disappearing.
Then Daniel opened a separate folder.
"There's something else."
He placed an old probate document in front of me.
It was dated several years after Mom's death.
The filing referenced newly discovered property connected to her estate.
"Your mother inherited an interest in a small commercial building from her aunt shortly before she became ill," Daniel explained.
Dad looked up sharply.
"What building?"
Daniel gave him an address.
Dad went still.
"I remember that property."
I looked at him.
"You do?"
"Elena mentioned her aunt's estate. We thought the building had been sold before she died."
Daniel shook his head.
"It wasn't. There was a remaining ownership interest, and the estate records suggest it was supposed to pass into Maya's trust."
I stared at the document.
"What happened to it?"
"That's what we're investigating."
Rebecca studied another page.
"These records show a later change involving a company that appears connected to Adrian Mercer."
Dad's expression darkened.
"Jasmine's lawyer."
Daniel nodded.
I felt dizzy.
The stolen trust money.
The strange house transfer.
The hidden inheritance.
And now my stepmother's affair with the attorney involved in the documents.
Nothing felt accidental anymore.
"How long has this been happening?" I whispered.
Daniel looked at me gently.
"We don't know yet."
Dad reached for my hand.
I let him take it.
For the first time, I saw how thoroughly Jasmine had deceived both of us.
But I also remembered the years he'd ignored my warnings.
And that pain didn't disappear simply because he was suffering too.
After the meeting, Dad drove me to campus.
We parked outside the main entrance.
Neither of us moved.
Finally, he spoke.
"I know saying sorry won't fix what happened."
I looked out the window.
"No."
He nodded.
"I understand."
I turned toward him.
"Do you?"
He looked at me.
"When I was sixteen, Jasmine told me Mom's pictures made the house feel like a shrine."
Dad closed his eyes.
"She made me put most of them away."
His voice cracked.
"I didn't know."
"I tried to tell you."
He looked at me.
"I remember."
"You said she was probably trying to help me move forward."
A tear rolled down his cheek.
"I was wrong."
I swallowed.
"I needed you to believe me before everything turned into a legal mess."
Dad nodded slowly.
"You're right."
There was no excuse.
No attempt to defend himself.
And somehow, that mattered.
Before I got out, he touched my shoulder.
"Maya, I can't undo the past. But I can spend the rest of my life showing you that you'll never have to fight for a place in my heart again."
I wanted to believe him.
I truly did.
That afternoon, something unexpected happened.
My grandmother called.
Dad's mother, Ruth Carter, lived three hours away in Savannah.
We had always been close.
But Jasmine often made excuses whenever Grandma wanted to visit.
"Baby," Grandma said, "your daddy told me something is happening."
I swallowed.
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you call me?"
I began crying.
Grandma let me cry.
Then she said:
"Listen carefully. You have never been a burden to this family."
I pressed the phone against my ear.
"I know."
"No, sweetheart. I need you to believe it."
I closed my eyes.
She continued.
"Your mother once asked me to promise her something."
My breath caught.
"What?"
"She said if life ever made you feel unwanted, I was supposed to remind you that you came into this world loved beyond measure."
I started sobbing.
Grandma's voice softened.
"And there's something else. Before Elena died, she gave me a sealed folder."
I went still.
"What folder?"
"She said it was for you if there was ever trouble with the estate."
My heart began pounding.
"Grandma, do you still have it?"
"Of course I do."
"What does it say?"
"I never opened it."
I covered my mouth.
"Can you bring it?"
"I'm already packing."
Then she added something that made me sit completely still.
"Maya, that folder isn't the only thing your mother gave me."
"What else?"
Grandma paused.
"A recording. She wanted you to hear her voice when you were old enough to understand why she made certain decisions."
My hands began trembling.
May you like
For fifteen years, I'd wished I could hear my mother speak to me one more time.
And now, somewhere three hours away, her voice was waiting.
