Chapter 6
Victor Hale looked older than I remembered.
At Diane's Christmas party, he had seemed charming.
Confident.
The sort of man who shook everyone's hand and remembered names.
Now his face looked tired.
Almost ashamed.
Ryan stared at him.
“You need to leave.”
Victor ignored him.
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry, Emily.”
“For what?”
“For waiting this long.”
Dad stepped beside me.
“What exactly do you know?”
Victor lifted the folder.
“Enough to put Diane in prison.”
Ryan's attorney immediately pulled him away.
“Don't say another word.”
Ryan glared at Victor.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“I know exactly what I'm talking about because your mother tried to make me part of it.”
My attorney led us into a private conference room.
Detective Brooks joined by phone.
Victor began talking.
He had dated Diane secretly for almost three years.
Not because Diane was ashamed.
Because she wanted Ryan to believe her entire life revolved around him.
“She controls him through guilt,” Victor said.
Ryan wasn't there to hear it.
But I knew it was true.
Victor opened the folder.
Inside were printed emails.
Bank records.
Photographs.
“Diane told me Ryan had investment problems,” he continued. “She said she wanted to help him recover.”
“How?”
“She asked me to invest in Holloway Ventures.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“Seventy-five thousand.”
Dad whistled softly.
“Did you?”
“At first.”
Victor looked embarrassed.
“I believed her.”
“What happened?”
“There was no real business.”
He slid papers toward us.
“Holloway Ventures was moving money between accounts.”
My attorney studied them.
“Money laundering?”
Victor shook his head.
“I don't know the legal term.”
Detective Brooks spoke through the phone.
“We'll determine that.”
Victor continued.
“Then Diane showed me the transfer from Emily's inheritance.”
I stared at him.
“She showed you?”
“She bragged about it.”
Something ugly twisted inside me.
“What did she say?”
Victor looked uncomfortable.
“She said Ryan finally proved where his loyalty belonged.”
I closed my eyes.
Dad squeezed my shoulder.
Victor added, “That's when I started asking questions.”
He discovered Ryan's debts.
Private lenders.
Failed cryptocurrency investments.
Sports betting.
My stomach dropped.
“Betting?”
Victor nodded.
Ryan had never told me.
Not once.
“He lost more than anyone knew,” Victor said.
“Diane kept covering him.”
“With my money.”
“Yes.”
Victor turned another page.
“She believed you were standing between her and Ryan.”
I almost laughed.
Of course she did.
“She wanted him divorced,” Victor continued.
Dad's eyes narrowed.
“Then why take Sophie?”
Victor hesitated.
“Diane believed Ryan couldn't leave Emily unless he had Sophie.”
I felt physically sick.
“She was using my daughter as leverage.”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Victor reached into the folder.
“There was another plan.”
He placed a property listing in front of us.
A beachfront house in Costa Rica.
Purchase price: $310,000.
Buyer listed as Holloway International Holdings.
“What's that?”
“A company Diane registered overseas.”
My attorney leaned forward.
“With whose money?”
Victor's expression told me before he spoke.
“Emily's.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
“But only two hundred and forty thousand was transferred.”
“From the inheritance account.”
He pulled out another statement.
“But Diane also took money from your joint home-equity line.”
My heart stopped.
“What home-equity line?”
Dad swore.
Victor looked at me with genuine pity.
“A hundred and sixty thousand dollars.”
I couldn't speak.
“My house?”
“Yes.”
I had signed nothing.
Again.
My attorney's face hardened.
“More forged documents?”
Victor nodded.
My hands began trembling.
If Dad hadn't arrived when he did, I might have lost everything.
My inheritance.
My equity.
My daughter.
Possibly my home.
Detective Brooks asked Victor how he obtained the paperwork.
“Diane left copies at my house.”
“Why did you wait to report it?”
Victor looked ashamed.
“Because I loved her.”
I understood that answer more than I wanted to.
Love could make intelligent people ignore impossible things.
I had done it with Ryan.
Victor continued.
“I told myself she was protecting her son.”
“What changed?”
“The passport.”
He looked at me.
“When Diane said they were taking Sophie, I asked if Emily agreed.”
My skin prickled.
“She laughed.”
Dad's jaw tightened.
Victor's voice became quiet.
“She said once they were outside the country, you wouldn't be able to stop them.”
I felt tears burn my eyes.
“She really said that?”
“Yes.”
Victor looked at the floor.
“And then she said you would eventually be grateful because you'd be free of Ryan.”
I couldn't even respond.
My daughter wasn't a child to Diane.
She was an object.
Something to take.
Something to control.
Something to use.
Detective Brooks asked Victor to come to the station.
He agreed.
Before leaving, he stopped beside me.
“I know saying sorry means very little.”
I looked at him.
“But I should have warned you sooner.”
“You warned me eventually.”
His eyes filled.
“I hope it was soon enough.”
That evening, Dad and I returned to the hotel.
Sophie was playing with blocks.
For the first time in days, she laughed.
The sound almost made me cry.
I sat on the floor beside her.
She built a tower.
Then she knocked it down.
“Again,” she said.
I smiled.
“Again.”
Children understood something adults forgot.
Things could fall apart.
And you could rebuild.
That night Ryan's supervised visitation coordinator called.
Ryan wanted to see Sophie the next afternoon.
I asked Sophie.
She became quiet.
“Will Grandma be there?”
“No.”
“Will you be there?”
“I can be nearby.”
She hugged her rabbit.
“Can Grandpa come?”
“Yes.”
She thought for a long time.
Then nodded.
The next day, we met at a supervised family center.
Ryan was already there.
He cried when Sophie entered.
She didn't run to him.
She walked slowly.
He knelt.
“Hi, baby.”
“Hi.”
“I missed you.”
She looked at the floor.
“I missed you too.”
My heart broke.
For twenty minutes, they colored.
Then Sophie asked a question.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Why didn't you stop Grandma?”
Ryan froze.
The supervisor looked toward him.
I held my breath.
Sophie continued.
“She hurt Mommy.”
Ryan's face collapsed.
He covered his mouth.
“I should have stopped her.”
“Why didn't you?”
He started crying.
“Because I was weak.”
Sophie stared at him.
Then she said something I would never forget.
“Grandpa wasn't weak.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“He wasn't.”
After the visit, Ryan asked the supervisor if he could speak to me.
I agreed.
He stood several feet away.
“I gave Detective Brooks everything.”
“What does everything mean?”
“My passwords. Accounts. Records.”
I studied him.
“Why?”
“Because I'm done protecting Mom.”
I didn't answer.
He wiped his face.
“And I'm done lying.”
Then he handed me a sealed envelope.
“I wrote down every account I used.”
I took it carefully.
Ryan looked at Sophie through the glass.
“There's one more thing you need to know.”
My stomach tightened.
He turned back to me.
“The money wasn't Grandma Rose's only secret.”
“What?”
Ryan swallowed.
“She knew what Mom was like.”
I stared at him.
“How?”
“Grandma found out two years before she died.”
“Found out what?”
“That Diane had already tried to get access to your inheritance.”
My blood went cold.
May you like
Ryan looked devastated.
“And Grandma left something behind in case she succeeded.”
