Chapter 5 - WHAT EDWARD BOUGHT
Edward refused to explain himself inside Briarwood Estate.
I refused to let him leave.
We compromised only because Margaret asked us to.
Claire found a conference room on the second floor normally used for corporate retreats.
It had a long mahogany table, twelve leather chairs, a projector, and a view of the lake.
It was the least romantic room at Briarwood.
That made it perfect.
Daniel sat beside the window.
Vanessa sat across from him.
They looked like strangers waiting for separate attorneys.
Richard and Eleanor occupied the far end.
Edward stood until Margaret told him to sit down.
She had changed clothes.
Claire found a simple navy dress in the estate’s emergency wardrobe.
Margaret’s ruined blue dress was sealed inside a garment bag.
Her cane rested beside her chair.
The bag containing the dress remained near the wall.
I kept looking at it.
A reminder.
No matter how complicated the money became, the day had started with something simple.
Cruelty.
Everything else had been hiding underneath.
Edward folded his hands.
“Five years ago, I made an investment.”
“In what?” I asked.
“A development project.”
“With the Caldwells?”
“With Richard.”
Richard stared at the table.
I turned toward him.
“You told me you barely knew Edward.”
“I said I knew him professionally.”
“You said consulting.”
“It began that way.”
Edward continued.
“The project was supposed to be a waterfront hotel outside Savannah.”
I remembered hearing about one.
It never opened.
“The investors lost money.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Edward gave a humorless smile.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“Then give me the right one.”
He looked at Richard.
“The project was never properly capitalized.”
Richard leaned forward.
“Careful.”
Edward ignored him.
“Some investor money was moved before construction began.”
My stomach tightened.
“Moved where?”
“Other ventures.”
“By whom?”
Richard stood.
“This conversation is over.”
Daniel laughed.
Nobody else did.
“No,” he said.
Richard looked at him.
“I think it’s finally starting.”
Richard sat back down.
Edward continued.
“I discovered the problem too late.”
“You invested company money?”
I asked.
“No.”
“Personal?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Six hundred thousand.”
I stared at him.
My brother had always complained that I treated him as financially irresponsible.
Apparently I had been too generous.
“And the Caldwells lost it?”
“Not exactly.”
Richard interrupted.
“The investment failed.”
Edward looked at him.
“You diverted funds.”
“You signed every document.”
“Because you lied about where the money was going.”
Richard’s face reddened.
“And you knew enough to keep quiet afterward.”
That sentence mattered.
I turned back to Edward.
“Why did you keep quiet?”
He did not answer.
“Edward.”
His eyes met mine.
“Because some of the money came from somewhere it shouldn’t have.”
Margaret made a small sound.
I stared at him.
“You just said it was personal money.”
“Most of it was.”
“How much wasn’t?”
He rubbed his face.
“One hundred fifty thousand.”
“From Whitmore Development?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
The chair behind me rolled backward.
Daniel stared at his uncle.
“You stole from the company?”
Edward looked at him.
“I borrowed it.”
“Without permission.”
“Yes.”
“That is stealing.”
Edward’s eyes flashed.
“You don’t get to lecture me.”
Daniel’s expression went cold.
“No?”
“No.”
“You approved my seventy-five-thousand-dollar advance because you were helping Vanessa.”
“I approved it because I knew what it was like to make one stupid financial decision and have everybody act like your life should end.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“You knew she was lying to me.”
Edward said nothing.
Daniel’s face changed.
“You knew.”
“I knew part of it.”
“What part?”
Edward looked at Eleanor.
She stared back.
Daniel hit the table with his palm.
“What part?”
Vanessa jumped.
Edward finally spoke.
“The seventy-five thousand dollars was not for Eleanor’s debt.”
Daniel’s breathing stopped for half a second.
“What was it for?”
Nobody answered.
He turned to Vanessa.
“What was it for?”
She began crying again.
This time it looked different.
Not performative.
Terrified.
Eleanor spoke sharply.
“Vanessa.”
Vanessa looked at her mother.
“No.”
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed.
Vanessa shook her head.
“No, Mom.”
Richard stood.
“Enough.”
Vanessa screamed.
“Sit down!”
The sound shocked everyone.
Even her.
She pressed both hands against her mouth.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“All of it.”
Daniel stared.
“What was the money for?”
Her lower lip trembled.
“A settlement.”
“With who?”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Her name is Natalie Price.”
Daniel looked confused.
I was too.
Margaret asked gently, “Who is Natalie Price?”
Vanessa looked at her mother again.
Eleanor’s face was stone.
Vanessa answered anyway.
“She worked for my parents.”
Richard’s expression became dangerous.
“She was dismissed.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“She was threatened.”
“Vanessa.”
“She was.”
Richard stepped toward her.
I stood.
He stopped.
Vanessa continued.
“Natalie handled bookkeeping for Caldwell Events.”
I glanced at Eleanor.
“She found transfers.”
“What kind of transfers?”
“Money from the Savannah development.”
Edward went pale.
Vanessa looked at him.
“She knew where it went.”
I stared at Richard.
“You told investors the money disappeared into failed projects.”
Richard did not answer.
Vanessa whispered, “Some of it went into accounts controlled by my mother.”
Eleanor stood.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You were twenty-five.”
“I copied the records.”
That silenced her.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“Why?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“Because Natalie showed them to me.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Long before the engagement.
Long before the wedding.
“What happened to her?”
“She said she was going to report everything.”
Richard laughed once.
“She was trying to blackmail us.”
Vanessa turned on him.
“She was trying to protect herself.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I saw the messages you sent her.”
Richard’s face darkened.
Daniel leaned back.
“And the settlement?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Last November Natalie contacted me.”
“What did she want?”
“She had more records.”
“About your parents?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you need seventy-five thousand dollars?”
“She said she would give me everything and sign an agreement not to involve me.”
Daniel stared.
“You paid her?”
“Yes.”
“With money I gave you.”
“Yes.”
“You told me your mother owed dangerous people.”
Vanessa covered her face.
Daniel’s voice became quieter.
“That was a lie.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t give me the money if I told you the truth.”
The answer was devastating in its simplicity.
Daniel stood.
Vanessa reached for him.
He moved away.
“You used me.”
“I was scared.”
“You used me.”
“I was trying to get out.”
“Out of what?”
“My family.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“How noble.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You threatened to cut me off.”
“You were living in a condo I paid for.”
“You told me if I went to the police, I would lose everything.”
Richard stepped closer.
“You would have.”
Daniel stared at his wife.
“Why didn’t you tell me after?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
He nodded slowly.
“That’s what I thought.”
Margaret looked at Vanessa.
“What happened to Natalie?”
Vanessa lowered her hands.
“She disappeared.”
The word settled over us.
I felt a cold sensation move through my chest.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
“She stopped answering.”
“When?”
“December.”
“Did you contact police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“My father said she took the money and ran.”
Richard slammed his hand on the table.
“She did.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Then why did someone send me this three days ago?”
She reached into the hidden pocket of her wedding dress.
For one absurd second, I remembered Margaret helping choose that dress.
Vanessa pulled out a folded envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
She placed it on the table.
It showed a woman standing outside a brick apartment building.
Young.
Dark hair.
Holding a newspaper.
The date printed across the front page was from four days earlier.
Natalie Price was alive.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written six words.
YOU PAID FOR SILENCE.
SHE KEPT RECEIPTS.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“Who sent this?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
My phone buzzed.
Every person in the room looked at it.
Same number.
A new message.
SHE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO KEPT RECEIPTS.
Then a second message arrived.
CHECK MARGARET'S PEARL BRACELET.
I looked toward my wife.
She stared back.
Neither of us understood.
Then Margaret slowly touched her bare wrist.
The bracelet she had given Vanessa.
The heirloom Vanessa had mocked.
The bracelet Vanessa had claimed she would not wear at the wedding.
Margaret whispered, “Thomas.”
“What?”
“She was wearing it today.”
I turned toward Vanessa.
Her wrist was empty.
“Where is the bracelet?”
Vanessa looked down.
For the first time since this began, she seemed genuinely confused.
“I gave it to my mother before the ceremony.”
May you like
Every eye in the room moved toward Eleanor.
Eleanor’s face went white.
