Chapter 12 - THE FIRST MEETING WASN’T AN ACCIDENT
Now investigators pulled the fundraiser guest list.
Michael had not been on it originally.
His ticket was added forty-eight hours before the event.
Requested by Victoria.
Then they found donor notes.
Emily Collins — Claire Collins Trust beneficiary.
Someone had marked her name.
Michael’s assistant received an email from Victoria that afternoon:
Make sure he attends.
Emily stared at the page.
“He targeted me.”
At first, maybe.
Rachel found a second email from three months after Emily and Michael started dating.
Victoria to Michael:
Do not push the trust yet. She needs to believe you do not care about it.
Emily stood up and left the room.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“All those conversations about Mom. About money. About how he loved that I was ‘normal.’”
She looked at me.
“Was any of it real?”
“I don’t know.”
She cried.
“I hate that answer.”
“So do I.”
She opened Claire’s letter.
Sweet Emily,
If I am gone when you read this, please remember something I took too long to learn.
Being chosen is not the same as being loved.
Someone can want access to your life without valuing you.
Someone can praise your kindness because it makes you easier to use.
You are allowed to disappoint people who benefit from your silence.
Emily pressed the letter to her chest.
Then her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Michael standing outside my house.
Taken that moment.
We ran to the window.
No Michael.
Only a car driving away.
May you like
Then a second message arrived.
COME HOME OR YOUR FATHER BECOMES THE STORY.
