Chapter 5
I stayed at Clara’s apartment that night.
I did not want to.
But Clara begged.
“I should have helped you sooner,” she whispered. “Please let me do this now.”
Her hands shook as she made tea.
I realized Evelyn had not only controlled her sons.
She had controlled everyone.
“Did she hit you too?” I asked.
Clara froze.
Then nodded.
“When we were kids. Later, she didn’t need to. She just looked at us.”
That hurt in a different way.
I had hated Clara for being cold to me.
Maybe she had only been frozen.
At 2:00 a.m., my attorney, Lydia Ross, called.
“I listened to the file.”
“And?”
“Emily, this is bigger than affair evidence.”
“I know about the trust.”
“There are bank transfers tied to your name.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Evelyn opened an account using your Social Security number six months ago. Money from Robert’s company passed through it.”
I sat up.
“She framed me.”
“Yes. If Robert noticed, you would look guilty.”
My skin went cold.
“And Daniel?”
Lydia paused.
That pause answered before she did.
“His signature appears on two authorization forms.”
I closed my eyes.
Clara sat beside me.
“What is it?”
I could barely speak.
“Daniel helped.”
The next morning, Robert came with Henry and a banker.
His face looked older.
“Emily,” he said. “I owe you an apology I can’t make big enough.”
I did not soften.
“Start with the truth.”
He nodded.
“Martin has been moving money from my company. Evelyn helped him. I thought Daniel’s failed venture caused the losses.”
“Why blame me?”
Robert looked ashamed.
“Because Evelyn knew I trusted you.”
That stunned me.
“You trusted me?”
“You were the only person in that house who ever asked if I had eaten.”
May you like
I looked away.
Sometimes kindness returns as evidence.
