Chapter 5
Nobody moved.
Graham Pierce’s voice hung in the living room like smoke.
Rebecca stared at Dad’s hand.
Dad stared at the phone.
Aunt Sarah slowly stood with Ella in her arms.
The officer’s expression changed first.
He had heard enough to know this was no ordinary family argument.
Dad pressed the speaker button harder, like Graham might slip away if he loosened his grip.
“What box, Graham?” Dad asked.
Silence.
Then a sharp breath.
“Mark?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Graham, hang up.”
Dad stepped closer to her.
“No. Let him talk.”
Graham tried to laugh.
It came out thin.
“I must have called the wrong number.”
“You called Rebecca,” Dad said. “You asked if she got my children out before I found my wife’s box.”
Another silence.
This one was worse.
Because it was full of panic.
The officer held out his hand.
“Mr. Reed, keep the call active.”
Dad did.
Graham hung up anyway.
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“That proves nothing.”
Aunt Sarah almost shouted.
“It proves everything.”
“No,” Rebecca said. “It proves a lawyer made a confused statement during a stressful situation.”
Dad turned to the officers.
“I want him investigated.”
The older officer nodded.
“We are going to need the documents your late wife left.”
Dad looked at me.
The box was still upstairs.
For a second, I wanted to run and hide it.
Those papers felt like the last living pieces of Mom.
But then I looked at Ella’s wrist.
I remembered Mom’s handwriting.
Protect the children from her.
“I’ll get it,” I said.
Dad started to follow.
I stopped him.
“I can do it.”
He looked like he wanted to argue.
Then he nodded.
Aunt Sarah watched me climb the stairs.
Her face was full of something I had not seen from an adult in a long time.
Trust.
I ran to Mom’s room and gathered the papers.
The flash drive had fallen under the table.
I picked it up.
For a moment, I held it in my palm and wondered what Mom had recorded.
Her voice?
Her proof?
Her fear?
Then I heard a floorboard creak behind me.
I turned.
Rebecca stood in the doorway.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I had not heard her come upstairs.
Her face was calm again.
Too calm.
“Give me the drive, Connor.”
I backed away.
“You’re not supposed to be up here.”
She stepped inside.
“I know you think you are being brave.”
“I am.”
“No,” she said. “You are being used.”
I clutched the box to my chest.
“My mom warned us about you.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“Your mother was weak.”
The words hit me so hard I could not breathe.
“She was kind,” I said.
“She was naive,” Rebecca snapped. “She had everything and still complained. A husband. Money. A house. Children. She had no idea what real survival looked like.”
“You hated her.”
Rebecca’s mouth twisted.
“I hated how easy her life was.”
I pressed my back against the sewing table.
The flash drive dug into my palm.
Downstairs, voices moved.
Too far away.
Rebecca held out her hand.
“Give me the drive, and I will tell them you were confused. I will tell your father you were scared and made mistakes because you miss your mother.”
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“Then I will make sure they take you from him.”
My stomach turned.
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
She came closer.
“I already started. I have reports. I have witnesses. I have emails from Graham saying your father is overwhelmed. One more incident, and people will ask whether Mark Reed can keep his children safe.”
I thought about Dad downstairs.
I thought about every time he believed her.
For one horrible second, I wondered if she was right.
Then I heard Ella’s voice from the hallway.
“Connor?”
Rebecca spun around.
Ella stood at the top of the stairs.
Aunt Sarah was behind her.
So was Dad.
So were both officers.
Dad’s face was white with rage.
Rebecca had forgotten one thing.
Mom’s sewing room shared a wall with the hallway.
And the door had been open.
Everyone had heard her.
Rebecca’s hand dropped.
Dad walked past her and took the box from me.
His voice shook.
“Get away from my son.”
Rebecca tried one last time.
“Mark, please. I was angry. He provoked me.”
Dad looked at the officers.
“I want her out of my house.”
The younger officer moved toward Rebecca.
“Mrs. Wells, you need to come with us.”
“For what?”
“Questioning, for now.”
She laughed, but it broke in the middle.
“You cannot arrest me because a child stole private documents.”
Aunt Sarah held up her phone.
“No, but they can question you because I recorded what you just said.”
Rebecca’s eyes went wild.
Dad pulled me into his side.
I did not realize I was shaking until his arm wrapped around me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into my hair. “Connor, I am so sorry.”
I wanted to say it was okay.
But it was not.
So I said nothing.
The officers led Rebecca down the stairs.
At the front door, she turned back.
“You think Emily was innocent?” she said. “Ask your precious wife why she never told you who really created that trust.”
Dad froze.
Aunt Sarah’s face changed.
I saw it.
Dad saw it too.
“What is she talking about?” he asked.
Aunt Sarah looked away.
Rebecca smiled through her tears.
“Oh, Sarah knows.”
Then the officer guided her outside.
The door closed.
The house became quiet.
Dad looked at Aunt Sarah.
“What did Emily hide from me?”
Aunt Sarah pressed a hand over her mouth.
Then she looked at me and Ella.
Her voice came out broken.
“The trust was not only for the children.”
Dad frowned.
“What do you mean?”
May you like
Aunt Sarah looked at my mother’s box.
“Emily set aside money because she was planning to leave you.”
