Chapter 5
Lila grabbed for the phone.
I stepped back, holding it out of her reach.
“Give it to me, Emily,” she hissed. “That’s private.”
“Private?” I laughed. It was a sharp, bitter sound. “Your mom just texted you about a plan to make me look like a liar. To cover up the fact that she stole $80k and swapped my meds. That’s not private, Lila. That’s conspiracy.”
Daniel ran into the room.
He saw us fighting over the phone.
“What is going on?” he said.
“Nothing,” Lila said quickly.
She tried to grab the phone again.
“Emily stole my phone. She’s going through my things.”
“I didn’t steal it,” I said.
I held the phone out to Daniel.
“You left it here. Read the text, Daniel. Read what your mother sent her.”
Daniel took the phone.
He read the message.
His face went dark.
He turned to Lila.
“What is she talking about?” he said. “What plan?”
Lila’s mouth opened and closed.
No sound came out.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “Mom sent it to me last night. She was upset. She was just rambling. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Bullshit,” I said.
I stepped toward her.
“You knew, didn’t you? You knew she took the money. You knew about the meds. You helped her. That’s why you came in here screaming this morning. That’s why you showed that stupid photo. You were trying to distract Daniel. To make him hate me so he’d never look too close at what you two did.”
Lila slapped me.
Hard.
My head snapped to the side.
My cheek stung.
Daniel grabbed Lila’s arm and pulled her away from me.
“Get out,” he said.
His voice was ice.
“Get out of my house, and don’t come back until you’re ready to tell the truth. Both of you.”
Lila ran out crying.
She got in her car and sped away.
Daniel turned to me.
He reached for my cheek, where Lila had hit me.
I flinched.
“Emily,” he said softly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry about her. About all of this.”
“Are you?” I said.
I picked up my purse from the counter.
“Because it feels like every time we get close to the truth, something happens. A photo. A text. Your mom crying. Your sister screaming. And suddenly, you’re not sure again. I can’t do this anymore, Daniel. I can’t keep fighting your family for you. I can’t keep proving I’m not a liar, not a cheater, not a thief. I’m tired.”
I walked to the door.
“Where are you going?” he said.
“To Mia’s,” I said.
Mia was my best friend.
The only person who had believed me from the start.
“I need some space. I need to breathe. Call me when you decide whose side you’re on. Once and for all.”
I left before he could answer.
I drove to Mia’s apartment on the north side.
She let me in, took one look at my red cheek and puffy eyes, and pulled me into a hug.
I told her everything.
The envelope.
The birth control.
The text on Lila’s phone.
She made me tea and sat with me while I cried.
An hour later, my phone buzzed.
It was a text from Jake.
We need to talk. More proof came in last night. She didn’t just steal from the estate. She’s been taking money from Daniel’s construction company too. For three years. Small amounts. False invoices. Fake subcontractors. Total so far is almost $220k.
I stared at the text.
$220k.
That was most of the profit Daniel had made on the big downtown project last year.
The project he’d worked 18-hour days on for six months.
The project we’d planned to use to pay off the house and start our family.
His own mother had stolen it right out from under him.
I called Jake.
“Where are you?” I said.
“My office,” he said. “But it’s not safe to meet here. Margaret has people watching me. Meet me at the diner on Clark Street. The one with the red awning. In 20 minutes. Come alone.”
I hung up.
I told Mia where I was going.
“Be careful,” she said.
I drove to the diner.
Jake was already there, sitting in a booth in the back, a thick folder on the table in front of him.
He slid it across to me when I sat down.
“All of it’s in there,” he said. “The fake companies. The invoices. The bank transfers. Most of the money went to the same secret account. The rest went to cash. She’s been spending it like crazy—fancy clothes, trips, a new Mercedes she told Daniel she won in a raffle.”
I flipped through the papers.
It was all there.
Signed, dated, undeniable.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I said.
“Because I wanted to be sure,” he said. “And because I knew it would break him. That’s his life’s work in there, Emily. His company. The one his dad started. Finding out his own mom stole from him? That’s worse than the estate. Worse than the meds.”
He reached across the table and squeezed my hand.
“You okay?” he said.
I nodded.
Tears were running down my face again, but they were angry tears now.
Not sad ones.
“I’m going to show him this,” I said. “All of it. Today. He has to know.”
Jake nodded.
“Call me if you need anything,” he said.
I left the diner a few minutes later.
I didn’t see Margaret sitting in her car across the street.
I didn’t see her take a photo of me hugging Jake goodbye before I got in my car.
I didn’t know she’d followed me from Mia’s.
That she’d been waiting outside the diner the whole time.
I was halfway to Daniel’s office when my phone buzzed.
It was a text from Daniel.
Two texts.
The first was the photo Margaret had just taken—me and Jake hugging outside the diner.
The second said:
I thought you said you needed space. I thought you said it was all business. Don’t come home tonight, Emily. Don’t come home ever until you’re ready to stop lying to me.
I stared at the texts.
My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the phone.
Margaret had done it again.
One photo.
One lie.
And Daniel was right back to not believing me.
I pulled over to the side of the road.
I put my head on the steering wheel and screamed.
May you like
I didn’t know then that this would be the lowest point.
That things were about to get much, much worse before they got better.
