Chapter 4 - Derek’s Mother
Laura Hale did not look like a woman who had come to threaten me.
She looked terrified.
Her hair was uncombed.
Her expensive coat was buttoned incorrectly.
She carried no handbag.
Only a manila envelope clutched against her chest.
Nolan wanted to remain in the room.
Laura refused.
“I came to speak to Emily.”
“She’s my sister.”
“And Derek is my son.”
Her voice cracked.
“That is exactly why you should leave us alone.”
I touched Nolan’s arm.
“I’ll be fine.”
He disliked it.
I could tell.
But he stepped into the hallway.
Laura waited until the door closed.
Then she placed the envelope on the table.
“I should have come months ago.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I was afraid of my own son.”
The words settled heavily between us.
I sat opposite her.
“What did you mean about the honeymoon?”
Laura’s hands trembled.
“Derek isn’t planning to hurt you physically.”
I said nothing.
“But he is planning for you to become legally incapable of controlling the trust after you marry him.”
I stared.
“How?”
She pushed the envelope toward me.
Inside was a photocopy of a medical power-of-attorney form.
My name was printed at the top.
So was Derek’s.
“It isn’t signed.”
“Not yet.”
“What is this?”
“Part of the plan.”
Laura swallowed.
“Derek told Richard that once you were married, they could convince you to sign several documents during the honeymoon.”
“Richard?”
“My husband.”
Derek’s father.
The man photographed with mine.
“He said you would think they were routine estate planning forms.”
My throat tightened.
“And if I refused?”
Laura looked away.
“That’s why I came.”
“What does that mean?”
“They had another plan.”
“What plan?”
“Make you look unstable.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“How?”
“Stress.”
“Laura.”
“Public arguments.”
She struggled with each word.
“Messages taken out of context.”
“Laura.”
“Statements from people close to you.”
Clara.
I understood before she said it.
“Clara was supposed to testify that I was unstable.”
Laura nodded.
“They have recordings.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know.”
My mind raced through years of private conversations with Clara.
Breakups.
Grief.
My father’s death.
Moments I had cried.
Moments I had been angry.
“She recorded me?”
“I believe so.”
I stood and walked toward the window.
For the first time, the affair itself felt small.
Derek and Clara had not simply betrayed me.
They had been collecting pieces of me.
Turning my emotions into evidence.
Building a version of Emily Bennett that could someday be presented to a doctor, lawyer, or judge.
“What happens after that?”
Laura whispered.
“If you were deemed temporarily unable to manage the trust, your spouse could assume emergency authority under the revised agreement.”
I closed my eyes.
Nolan had been right.
The kiss at the airport was only one piece.
“How long has this been planned?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re his mother.”
“I stopped knowing my son years ago.”
There was a pain in her voice I couldn’t fake.
I turned back.
“Why are you helping me?”
Laura looked at the photograph of Dad on the bookshelf.
“Because your father once tried to help my husband.”
I waited.
“Richard stole from him.”
“I know.”
Her eyes widened.
“You do?”
“I found the settlement.”
She exhaled.
“Then you know why Richard hates your family.”
“He committed fraud and Dad caught him.”
“Richard doesn’t see it that way.”
“Of course he doesn’t.”
“He says your father destroyed his reputation.”
“He destroyed his own reputation.”
Laura’s eyes filled.
“That is what I told Derek.”
Silence.
“He slapped the table so hard the glass broke.”
My anger sharpened.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why were they discussing me?”
“Because Richard told him the marriage was taking too long.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“How long has Derek known who I am?”
“Before he met you.”
I already suspected it.
Hearing it confirmed was different.
“Did he ever love me?”
Laura closed her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
That answer hurt more than a lie.
Her phone buzzed.
She glanced at it.
Her face went white.
“What?”
She turned the screen toward me.
Derek.
MOM, WHERE ARE YOU?
A second message appeared.
DON’T DO SOMETHING STUPID.
Laura stood abruptly.
“I have to go.”
“No.”
“If Richard knows I came here—”
“You’re staying.”
“I can’t.”
Nolan entered without being invited.
“You can.”
Laura stared at him.
Nolan held up his phone.
“Your husband’s car has been circling the block for eleven minutes.”
Her face drained.
“He followed me.”
“Yes.”
Nolan turned toward me.
“Emily, upstairs.”
“No.”
“Now.”
“I’m done being sent out of rooms.”
“This isn’t about protecting information.”
“Then what?”
Marcus appeared in the doorway.
His normally calm expression had changed.
“Someone just fired at the front security camera.”
Laura gasped.
Nolan grabbed my arm.
“Basement safe room.”
“Nolan—”
“Move.”
Another sound came from outside.
Not a gunshot.
A car accelerating.
Then metal screamed as something struck the front gate.
Laura began crying.
“They know.”
“Know what?” I demanded.
She looked at me.
“That I stole the original ledger.”
“What ledger?”
She clutched the manila envelope against her chest.
“The one that proves Derek’s father didn’t just steal from yours.”
Her eyes met mine.
May you like
“He helped cause his death.”
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