Chapter 13
The flash drive held more than company files.
It held secrets.
Eric’s debts.
Vanessa’s fake identities.
Draft plans for after the wedding.
A boarding school payment schedule.
A list of employees to fire.
A note about Clara.
Frame nanny first.
I stared at those three words until they blurred.
Clara had spent every day protecting me, and Vanessa had planned to destroy her life like it was a line item.
Dad read the note once.
Then he walked outside and stood in the rain.
I watched him through the window.
Clara came beside me.
“He blames himself,” she said.
“He should have listened.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “And he knows.”
That made my anger wobble.
I did not want it to.
Anger felt strong.
Sadness felt like falling.
The files about Mom were harder.
They did not prove murder.
They proved Eric had lied.
He had not just forgotten to pick Mom up.
He had called her while she was driving.
Repeatedly.
There were phone records.
Arguments about money.
Dad read them with shaking hands.
Eric had begged Mom to convince Dad to cover another debt.
Mom refused.
Then the crash happened twelve minutes later.
Detective Reyes reopened the file.
Dad told me carefully.
No dramatic words.
No promises he could not keep.
“There may never be proof he caused the accident,” he said. “But we now know he lied about the hours before it.”
I felt sick.
“Did Mom die because of him?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
I hated that answer most because it was true.
At night, I dreamed of locked chapel doors and rain on a windshield.
I woke up crying.
Dad came in.
This time I pushed him away.
“You let them near us.”
He froze.
“You let Vanessa live here. You let Uncle Eric come to Christmas. You let them smile at me.”
Tears ran down his face.
“I did.”
I expected excuses.
He gave none.
“I am sorry, Mia.”
I cried harder.
“I miss Mom.”
He opened his arms.
May you like
This time, I went to him.
“Me too,” he whispered. “Every day.”
