Chapter 3 - THURSDAY
I had surgery Thursday morning.
Jake was the only family member in the waiting room.
He sat beside my bed before they wheeled me away, bouncing one nervous knee.
“You sure about this surgeon?”
“He’s one of the best.”
“Okay.”
“You’ve asked me that six times.”
“Because I’m trying not to ask if you’re scared.”
I looked at him.
“I’m terrified.”
He squeezed my hand.
“Good. Me too.”
I laughed.
It hurt.
Not my knee.
Everything else.
When I woke up hours later, my throat felt like sandpaper and my leg felt like someone had driven nails through it.
But Dr. Patel smiled.
“The repair went well.”
“Can I walk?”
“Eventually.”
That word sounded beautiful.
Eventually.
Jake leaned over me.
“Told you.”
“You literally told me you were terrified.”
“Yeah, but confidently.”
My phone had forty-three missed calls.
Most were from Mom and Dad.
Madison had sent one text.
HEARD YOU HAD SURGERY. HOPE IT WENT OK.
Then another arrived.
ALSO DAD SAYS YOU’RE CAUSING SOME WEIRD BANK ISSUE. CAN YOU FIX IT?
I handed the phone to Jake.
He read it.
“What bank issue?”
I hadn’t told him about the trust yet.
Daniel had recommended waiting until we confirmed everything.
I couldn’t anymore.
“Grandpa left us money.”
Jake looked confused.
“What money?”
“A lot.”
I explained.
By the time I finished, his face had gone white.
“He left me a trust too?”
“Yes.”
“How much is left?”
“I don’t know.”
Jake stood so fast his chair scraped backward.
“That’s why Dad always changed the subject.”
“What subject?”
Jake paced.
“Every time I talked about opening my garage, Dad told me Grandpa never left me cash. Just the tools.”
I felt sick.
That evening, Daniel came to the hospital carrying a folder.
He closed the door behind him.
“We found Jake’s trust.”
Jake stepped forward.
“And?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Almost empty.”
“How?”
“Withdrawals.”
“For what?”
Daniel opened the file.
“Your father’s company.”
Jake froze.
Daniel continued.
“Your parents transferred hundreds of thousands from both trusts into Carter Coastal Imports.”
Dad’s business.
The company he always described as thriving.
“They stole from us to save their company?” Jake whispered.
“Not exactly,” Daniel said.
He placed another document on my blanket.
It was a loan application.
Nine hundred thousand dollars.
My father had used assets from our trusts as collateral.
Then I saw the third name on the paperwork.
Madison Carter.
I looked at Daniel.
“She signed this?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know where the money came from?”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Emily, Madison didn’t just know.”
May you like
He tapped one line.
“She personally received part of it.”
