Chapter 9 - Twelve Million Reasons
By sunrise, nobody trusted anybody.
Robert stayed in his office.
Daniel sat beside me in the breakfast room.
"I failed you," he said.
I looked at my swollen cheek reflected in the dark window.
"Yes."
He flinched, but I wasn't interested in making the truth comfortable.
"When she grabbed me, you watched."
"I froze."
"You've been freezing for years. Every holiday, every insult, every time she called me greedy or said I married you for money."
"I know."
"Do you?"
He rubbed both hands over his face. "I thought keeping the peace was protecting everyone."
"It protected the person causing the damage."
He nodded slowly.
That mattered. It wasn't forgiveness, but it mattered.
Ortiz entered carrying a laptop.
"We confirmed the twelve-million-dollar account. The strange part is the funding source."
She turned the screen.
The money had not come from the foundation.
It came from Robert's private companies.
"So Marcus was telling the truth?" Daniel asked.
"Partly. Your father created the account. Your mother later used it."
"For what?"
Ortiz clicked another file.
Payments to Hale Consulting. Cash withdrawals. Real-estate purchases. And one recurring transfer to a company called Red Harbor Medical.
My chest tightened.
"Medical?"
"It doesn't provide medical services. It's a records broker."
Daniel looked confused.
Ortiz lowered her voice. "They buy, alter, and bury private records. Birth records. DNA files. Insurance reports."
Daniel went still.
"My birth certificate?"
"Possibly."
Evelyn appeared in the doorway with her attorney.
"Stop talking to my children."
Ortiz closed the laptop.
Evelyn looked at Daniel. "Come with me. Alone. I can explain everything."
Daniel stood.
I touched his arm. "You don't owe her privacy anymore."
His mother heard me.
"This is between me and my son."
Daniel looked at her.
Then at me.
"No," he said. "It's between you and everyone you've lied to."
Evelyn's lawyer whispered something.
She ignored him.
"Fine," she said. "Then tell Emma to explain why her name is on the Red Harbor payments too."
May you like
Every face turned toward me.
And suddenly I understood why Evelyn had called me a thief first.
