Chapter 4
The officers separated us immediately.
One took Diane near the ballroom entrance.
The other asked me to sit with Lily and explain what had happened.
Natalie refused to leave our side.
Her wedding guests moved into the lobby, whispering in shocked groups.
The reception was effectively over.
I felt terrible for my sister.
But when I apologized, she took my hand.
“This is not your fault.”
“It was supposed to be your perfect night.”
“My niece matters more than centerpieces and music.”
She kissed Lily’s forehead.
Lily had stopped crying, but a red mark remained on her wrist where Diane had grabbed her.
The officer photographed it.
Mark saw the mark and turned away.
His shoulders shook.
I went to him.
“This isn’t your fault either.”
“She’s my mother.”
“You didn’t tell her to hurt Lily.”
“I brought her into our lives.”
“You trusted her.”
“I defended her.”
His voice broke.
“All those times you said she was too hard on Lily, I told you she was old-fashioned. I made excuses.”
I remembered every argument.
Diane criticizing Lily’s clothes.
Diane saying Lily was too loud.
Diane insisting that children should be seen and not heard.
I had watched her carefully, but I had never imagined she would knock my daughter down over a hidden envelope.
“You believed your mother loved her,” I said.
Mark looked across the room.
Diane was speaking to the police officer with calm gestures.
Even now, she looked offended rather than ashamed.
“I don’t know what she loves,” he whispered.
Thomas sat alone at a table.
He looked smaller than he had when he entered.
Mark watched him for several seconds.
Then he walked over.
I followed but stayed a few feet away with Lily.
“Where did you find Rebecca?” Mark asked.
Thomas looked up.
“An investigator traced the adoption records.”
“Did you meet her?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Why didn’t you bring her tonight?”
“She wasn’t ready.”
“For what?”
“To learn that the woman she knows as her mother may have bought her from Diane.”
Mark gripped the back of a chair.
“Bought her?”
“The adoption paperwork listed payments for medical expenses. But the amounts continued for eighteen months after Rebecca’s birth.”
“How much?”
“Almost ninety thousand dollars.”
Mark stared toward Diane.
“What happened to the family who raised Rebecca?”
“Her adoptive father died several years ago. Her adoptive mother, Helen, is still alive.”
“And the medication?”
“That’s what frightens me,” Thomas said.
He explained that Rebecca had a heart condition.
Nothing immediately fatal, but she needed daily medication.
The bottle we found contained pills prescribed two months earlier.
Rebecca had reported it missing during a visit to Nashville.
“Diane saw her?” I asked.
Thomas nodded.
“Rebecca agreed to meet me once. We met in a café. Diane appeared outside.”
Mark’s jaw tightened.
“She followed you.”
“I believe so.”
“What did she say to Rebecca?”
“She claimed I was a con artist.”
“Of course she did.”
“Rebecca left before I could explain everything.”
Thomas pulled out his phone.
The screen showed several unanswered messages.
“She stopped responding three weeks ago.”
“And you didn’t call the police?”
“She sent one final message saying she needed space.”
“Did it sound like her?”
“At first I thought so. Then I noticed she called me Thomas. She had always called me Mr. Reed.”
Mark took the phone.
The message was brief.
Please stop contacting me, Thomas. I do not believe your story. I need space. Do not look for me.
“Could Diane have written it?” I asked.
Thomas looked at her.
“If she had Rebecca’s phone.”
A police officer approached.
He asked Diane directly where she got the medication.
She claimed she found it in the hotel parking lot.
“You found a prescription belonging to a woman tied to your family and kept it?” the officer asked.
“I didn’t recognize the name.”
“But you removed most of the label.”
“The label was already damaged.”
Thomas told the officer about Rebecca’s disappearance.
Diane shook her head.
“She is not missing. She wants nothing to do with these people.”
Mark stepped forward.
“How do you know what she wants?”
Diane realized her mistake.
“I’m assuming.”
“You just said she doesn’t want anything to do with us.”
“Because any intelligent person would stay away from Thomas.”
The officer asked whether Diane had spoken to Rebecca.
“No.”
“Have you ever met her?”
“No.”
Thomas pulled a photograph from his wallet.
It showed Rebecca leaving the café.
Diane stood across the street in the background.
The image was slightly blurred, but her face was visible.
Mark showed it to the officer.
Diane’s composure finally cracked.
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves you followed them,” Mark said.
“I followed Thomas because I knew he was planning something.”
“You said you didn’t recognize Rebecca’s name.”
Diane stopped talking.
The officer told her she was being detained for questioning about Lily’s assault and the possible theft of prescription medication.
Diane looked at Mark.
“You are going to let them humiliate me?”
Mark’s voice was quiet.
“You humiliated yourself.”
“I raised you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you from that man.”
“You told me he was dead.”
“Because he should have been dead to us.”
Thomas flinched.
Diane pointed at me.
“This is Claire’s fault. She has always wanted to turn you against me.”
I stared at her.
“You pushed my daughter to protect your secrets.”
“She should not have been crawling beneath tables like an animal.”
Mark crossed the room before I could react.
He stopped inches from Diane.
“Never speak about my child that way again.”
The officer placed a hand between them.
Diane smiled coldly.
“There he is. Thomas Reed’s son. Angry and ungrateful.”
Mark stepped back as if she had slapped him.
The officers escorted Diane from the ballroom.
As she reached the door, she looked over her shoulder at Thomas.
“If you find Rebecca, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
Then she was gone.
The threat followed us into the silence.
Thomas was the first to move.
He grabbed his phone.
“I’m calling Rebecca again.”
The call went straight to voicemail.
Mark asked for her address.
Thomas gave it to him.
She lived forty minutes away in a town called Ashford.
The police officer advised us not to go there.
“We’ll send local officers for a welfare check.”
“How long will that take?” Mark asked.
“I’ll call now.”
We waited.
Natalie’s guests slowly left.
The venue staff packed untouched meals into boxes.
Emma brought Lily another cupcake.
Lily stared at it.
“You can eat it,” I said gently.
“Grandma said I don’t belong.”
Natalie crouched beside her.
“This is my wedding, and I say you belong more than anybody.”
Lily peeled back the wrapper.
She broke the cupcake into three pieces.
One for herself.
One for me.
One for Mark.
Thomas watched from a distance.
Lily looked at the remaining crumbs.
Then she held out a small piece to him.
“You can have some too.”
Thomas accepted it with both hands.
“Thank you.”
Mark watched his father eat a piece of wedding cupcake after thirty years apart.
His eyes filled again.
The officer’s phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway.
When he returned, his expression was grave.
“The house at Rebecca’s address is empty.”
Thomas stood.
“Empty?”
“The front door was unlocked. Her car is missing. There are signs she left in a hurry.”
“What kind of signs?”
“An overturned chair. Food left on the counter. Her phone was found under the kitchen table.”
Thomas swayed.
Mark caught his arm.
The officer continued.
“They also found an envelope addressed to Mark Carter.”
Mark stared at him.
“What was inside?”
“The local officer opened it because of the welfare concern.”
“And?”
“A photograph of Rebecca sitting beside Diane.”
I felt my breath stop.
“When was it taken?”
“We don’t know.”
The officer looked at Lily before lowering his voice.
“There was also a note.”
Mark’s hand tightened around Thomas’s arm.
“What did it say?”
The officer hesitated.
“It said, ‘If Mark learns the truth about Rebecca, he loses everything.’”
Mark looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I was afraid of this.”
“Afraid of what?”
Thomas glanced at Lily.
Then he looked back at Mark.
“The trust your grandfather created wasn’t only for you.”
“Who else was it for?”
“Both of my children.”
Mark frowned.
“You said Diane took my share.”
“She took some of it.”
“What happened to the rest?”
“According to the bank, the trust still holds nearly three million dollars.”
No one spoke.
Thomas continued.
“If Rebecca is alive, the money is divided between you.”
“And if she’s dead?” I asked.
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“Everything goes to Mark.”
Mark stared toward the ballroom doors where Diane had disappeared.
The truth settled over us with terrifying clarity.
May you like
Diane had stolen from Mark before.
Now three million dollars stood between her and the daughter she had sold.
