Chapter 14 - BEFORE DEREK
My mother answered on the third ring.
“Sweetheart?”
“Mom, I need you to tell me something.”
Pause.
“What happened?”
“Richard said there’s something from before I married Derek.”
Silence.
My stomach tightened.
“Mom?”
“I don’t know what he means.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You do this thing where your voice gets softer when you lie.”
“Megan—”
“Please.”
Another silence.
Then she said, “When you were nineteen, you had a rough semester.”
“I remember.”
My freshman year.
Bad breakup.
Too much work.
Too little sleep.
“I saw a counselor.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“You had a panic attack.”
“I know.”
“At school.”
“Yes.”
“And campus security took you to the hospital.”
My memory sharpened.
One night.
One panic attack.
One emergency room visit.
I had forgotten because it had been seventeen years.
“I wasn’t suicidal.”
“No.”
“I never threatened anybody.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
My mother began crying.
“Your father told Richard.”
I stood.
“What?”
“Years ago. Before your wedding. They were drinking. Your father mentioned you had struggled with anxiety when you were younger.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
Dad had been dead five years.
He had probably thought it was harmless.
A story about a difficult college semester.
Richard had kept it.
Stored it.
Waited.
“Oh, my God.”
“Megan, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
I ended the call and told Janet.
She barely reacted.
“A single panic attack at nineteen does not make you an unfit mother at thirty-six.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I hesitated.
She pointed at me.
“That hesitation is why men like Derek use shame as evidence.”
Her words landed hard.
By then, the case had spread beyond custody.
Investigators were looking at the forged deed.
The credit card.
The financial accounts.
Kelly’s assault allegation.
The tracker.
Derek was released pending further proceedings and went to stay with Richard.
Two days later, he asked through lawyers for a settlement meeting.
Janet advised against meeting privately.
So we met in a conference room.
Lawyers present.
Neutral ground.
Derek looked ten years older.
He didn’t look at Emily, who was with Rachel elsewhere.
He looked only at me.
His attorney spoke.
Derek would agree to generous support.
He would transfer the Cincinnati condo.
He would relinquish any claim to certain assets.
In exchange, I would agree to shared custody later and withdraw cooperation regarding some financial allegations where legally possible.
Janet almost smiled.
“No.”
Derek finally spoke.
“Megan.”
I looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
I felt nothing.
“I panicked.”
“You planned this for months.”
“My dad got in my head.”
Richard, sitting across the room, stiffened.
Derek continued.
“I made terrible choices.”
“Kelly?”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“The credit card?”
“I can explain.”
“The deed?”
“My father handled that.”
Richard snapped, “Watch yourself.”
And there it was.
A crack.
Derek turned toward him.
“You told me it was legal.”
“You signed the documents.”
“You said Keller would take care of it.”
Everyone in the room went silent.
Richard realized too late what Derek had just said.
Janet leaned forward.
“Mr. Hale, are you stating that Thomas Keller arranged the deed transfer?”
Richard stood.
“This meeting is over.”
His lawyer grabbed his arm.
“Sit down.”
Derek looked between them.
Panic spread across his face.
For the first time, father and son were no longer standing together.
They were looking for someone to blame.
I stood too.
Derek looked at me.
“What do you want, Megan?”
I thought about the kitchen.
The fifteen dollars.
The wedding ring.
The hospital.
The tracker.
The lies.
Then I answered.
“I want you to stop asking what I want like you’re deciding whether I’m allowed to have it.”
His face fell.
I picked up my bag.
But before I reached the door, he said, “There’s one thing you still don’t know.”
I stopped.
He swallowed.
“The night you left…”
“What?”
May you like
“I wasn’t the one who put the tracker on Rachel’s car.”
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