Chapter 15 - The Old File
Nine years earlier, David's firm had handled our prenuptial agreement.
Melissa had spent three afternoons in his office.
At the time, she was funny.
Patient.
Nervous about marrying into a family with more paperwork than money.
That was how I remembered it.
The archive log remembered something else.
A temporary employee downloaded my digital certificate onto a USB drive during the week of our wedding.
The employee's name was Kara Keller.
Melissa's younger sister.
I had met Kara twice.
She moved to Arizona years ago.
David found her number.
She answered.
When he explained why we were calling, she started crying.
"I wondered when this would come back."
I closed my eyes.
"What did you do?"
"Grant asked me to copy a file."
"Did Melissa know?"
A long silence.
"Yes."
Nine years.
Not six months.
Nine years.
Kara said Melissa and Grant were already suspicious of the Bennett family because of their father's lost investment.
They wanted access to old estate records.
At first, they were looking for proof my mother had stolen from their father.
They found nothing.
Melissa married me anyway.
"Was the marriage fake?" I asked.
Kara whispered, "I don't know."
"That's not an answer."
"She loved you."
"Then why steal my certificate?"
"Because Grant told her love doesn't mean trust."
I almost laughed at the cruelty of that sentence.
Kara had kept one thing.
An email from Melissa the night before our wedding.
I'M GOING THROUGH WITH IT. I LOVE HIM. BUT IF EVELYN BENNETT DID WHAT DAD SAID, I'M NOT LETTING THEM KEEP IT.
There it was.
Love and resentment in the same paragraph.
Kara forwarded another email.
From Grant.
KEEP THE CERTIFICATE. SOMEDAY IT MAY BE THE ONLY WAY TO GET OUR MONEY BACK.
I showed it to David.
He stared at the timestamp.
"This proves premeditated access theft."
Then he scrolled farther.
A third person was copied on the email.
Walter Briggs.
Walter had been part of the plan before my wedding.
Before Emma.
Before Theo.
Before Owen was old enough to remember Melissa at all.
May you like
And that meant Walter had not recruited my wife six months ago.
He had helped place her in my life from the beginning.
