Chapter 6: The Person Behind the Fake Emails
I read the email again.
Then I checked the sender's address.
It contained my mother's name, but the account itself belonged to an unfamiliar domain.
I showed Evelyn.
She shook her head.
"I've never seen that address before.""
Vanessa was standing near the hallway, holding her handbag against her chest.
"Daniel, you need to stop.""
I looked at her.
"Why?""
"Because you're making this into something it isn't.""
I held up the printed email.
"Someone created an account using my mother's name, instructed you to move money from my father's savings, and somehow got access to my personal documents. What exactly am I supposed to think?""
She looked at Madison.
"Sweetheart, go upstairs.""
Madison shook her head.
"No.""
Vanessa blinked.
"What did you say?""
"I don't want to go upstairs.""
"Madison, don't make me repeat myself.""
The little girl began crying.
"I didn't do anything!""
I immediately stepped toward her.
"Nobody is blaming you.""
Madison looked at me with wet eyes.
"Mom said if I told you about the envelope, we'd lose our house.""
I crouched in front of her.
"You haven't done anything wrong.""
She sniffled.
"She said Noah was taking everything away from us.""
I felt something break inside my chest.
I glanced toward Noah.
He was sitting quietly at the dining table, his dinner untouched again.
"Madison, do you know why your mother wanted Noah's money?""
She nodded.
"She said if Noah got the money when he was older, there wouldn't be enough for me.""
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The reason behind the rent.
The reason behind the separate treatment.
The reason my son had been made to feel like a burden in his own home.
Vanessa had turned two children into competitors for money that didn't belong to her.
I stood.
"Vanessa, we're finished discussing this without proper documentation.""
She laughed bitterly.
"So what? You're going to call the police on your wife?""
"If someone has used my identity to access an account, yes.""
Her expression changed.
"You wouldn't.""
"I absolutely would.""
She dropped her handbag onto the sofa.
"You know what? Maybe I should have left years ago.""
I stared at her.
"Nobody stopped you.""
She looked genuinely offended.
"After everything I've sacrificed?""
"What have you sacrificed?""
"I raised your son!""
The words came out so loudly that Madison covered her ears.
I pointed toward the dining table.
"You just hit his hand with a fork because he hadn't paid you rent.""
Vanessa's face tightened.
"That was discipline.""
"No. That was cruelty.""
She turned toward Evelyn.
"And you! You're the one who started all this!""
My mother stood.
"I didn't make you create fake emails.""
Vanessa stepped closer.
"You gave me the money!""
"Because you lied about your daughter's medical expenses.""
"I needed help!""
"Then you should have asked honestly.""
Vanessa looked around the room.
For a moment, she seemed to realize that nobody was going to defend her.
Then she did something unexpected.
She started laughing.
Not a nervous laugh.
A cold, bitter laugh.
"You all think I'm the only person with secrets?""
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?""
She picked up her handbag.
"Ask your mother where she was the night your father died.""
The room became completely still.
Evelyn's face changed.
I stared at Vanessa.
"What?""
She looked directly at my mother.
"Go on, Evelyn. Tell him.""
My mother didn't speak.
I turned toward her.
"Mom?""
Evelyn looked down at the table.
"Vanessa, this has nothing to do with the current situation.""
Vanessa smiled without humor.
"Of course it does.""
I stepped forward.
"What happened the night Dad died?""
Evelyn took a shaky breath.
"Your father and I had an argument.""
"About what?""
She looked at me.
"His will.""
I felt the room tilt slightly.
"My father's will?""
She nodded.
"He wanted to change something before he died.""
"What?""
My mother reached into her handbag again.
This time, she removed a folded letter.
The paper was yellowed at the edges.
My father's handwriting was unmistakable.
I recognized the way he crossed his letter T's and the small curve beneath his signature.
"Where did you get that?"" I asked.
"Your father gave it to me two days before he passed.""
I took the letter.
It was addressed to me.
But I had never seen it.
I unfolded the paper.
The first sentence read:
Daniel, if you're reading this, then something has happened that I was afraid to tell you about.
I looked at Evelyn.
"Why didn't you give me this?""
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because I was afraid you'd hate me.""
Vanessa slowly leaned against the wall.
For the first time, she wasn't interrupting.
She was watching.
I continued reading.
My father's letter mentioned the savings account, the house, and a person he believed might try to take advantage of me after his death.
Then I reached the final paragraph.
There is one person I do not want you to trust with your inheritance. If she ever enters your home, remember what I told you about the blue folder.
I stopped.
The blue folder.
I knew exactly what he meant.
My father had kept a blue document folder in his study for years.
After his funeral, I'd searched the house for it.
It was missing.
I looked at my mother.
"Where is it?""
Evelyn began crying.
"I don't know.""
Vanessa suddenly straightened.
Her handbag slipped from her shoulder again.
I noticed her hand move toward the pocket of her jacket.
She was holding something.
A small brass key.
I stared at it.
"Vanessa, what is that?""
She closed her fingers around it.
"Nothing.""
I took one step toward her.
"Show me.""
She backed away.
"No.""
My mother stood frozen.
Then she whispered something that made Vanessa's face turn completely white.
"That key belongs to your father's old safety deposit box.""
I looked at the key.
Then at Vanessa.
And finally at the letter in my hands.
Because suddenly, I understood something.
The money wasn't the only thing someone had been trying to take.
My father had left behind a secret.
May you like
And Vanessa had apparently found it before I did.
*But what was inside the blue folder—and why had she been so desperate to keep me from seeing it?*
