Chapter 14 - What Paige Did Before the WeddingThe police had left.
Margaret was gone.
The house was silent.
But Paige's confession hung between us.
“What did you do?”
She didn't look at me.
“Seven years ago, after I found Dad, I stole something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
“The foundation vault.”
I stared.
“You had access?”
“No.”
“I forced Marcus to give it to me.”
“Why?”
“I wanted proof Mom had lied.”
“What did you find?”
“Everything.”
She looked at me.
“Your birth records.”
“Dad's financial records.”
“Mom's trust.”
“Margaret's transfers.”
“And?”
She swallowed.
“A photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“You.”
I waited.
“You were four.”
“That isn't unusual.”
“You were being taken somewhere.”
My chest tightened.
“By who?”
“Margaret.”
I froze.
Paige continued.
“She took you to the Westbrook house.”
“She was going to sell me?”
“Yes.”
“To Marcus's family?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they wanted leverage over Mom.”
I felt sick.
“You knew.”
“I found out seven years ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was scared.”
“You always say that.”
“Because it's true.”
I stepped away.
“What did you do with the key?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“In the dress.”
I stared.
“The wedding dress?”
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
“The original trap.”
Paige nodded.
“Mom told me once that the only person she trusted to finish the plan was you.”
“She trusted me?”
“She trusted your stubbornness.”
I almost laughed through my tears.
“That sounds like her.”
Paige nodded.
“That's why she knew you'd send me the dress.”
I looked down at the white silk.
My entire body felt strange.
“All this time…”
“She knew you.”
“She knew you too.”
Paige began crying.
“I thought she loved you more.”
“She loved us differently.”
“I don't know how to forgive myself.”
“You don't have to start there.”
“What do I start with?”
“The truth.”
Paige looked at me.
“Then here's the truth.”
She pulled a small USB drive from inside her coat.
“What's that?”
“The first copy.”
“Of what?”
“The file I stole seven years ago.”
I stared.
She handed it to Ethan.
He connected it.
One folder appeared.
One video.
One timestamp.
Seven years ago.
The video showed Margaret talking to Paige.
Margaret's voice was clear.
“You have two choices.”
Paige, younger, scared:
“What choices?”
“Protect your sister.”
“Or lose her.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Make Clara believe you hate her.”
I stared at the screen.
My sister had been manipulated from the beginning.
Margaret continued.
“She must never know you're protecting her.”
Paige asked:
“And Mom?”
Margaret smiled.
“Your mother has already made her choice.”
The video ended.
I looked at Paige.
“You were protecting me?”
“Badly.”
I laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
“I thought if I became terrible enough, they'd stop watching you.”
“They watched me anyway.”
“I know.”
We sat in silence.
Then Ethan spoke.
“There is another file.”
He clicked it.
A document opened.
A trust amendment.
Signed by Mom.
The date was two days before her death.
Beneficiaries:
Clara Hayes.
Paige Hayes.
Ethan Reynolds.
I stared at my fiancé.
“Why is your name there?”
He looked at me.
“I didn't know.”
Paige's face changed.
“Maybe Mom trusted him too.”
I opened the document.
There was one final clause.
If Clara and Paige reconcile before the wedding ends, Ethan receives the final key.
A key appeared in the scanned image.
I looked at Ethan.
“You have it?”
He slowly reached into his pocket.
My heart pounded.
He pulled out a tiny silver key.
“What does it open?”
He looked at the document.
“Your mother's grave.”
I stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does now.”
We drove to the cemetery.
Mom's grave was quiet.
The moon hung above the trees.
Ethan knelt.
There was a small metal plate beneath the stone.
He inserted the key.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a final envelope.
This one was addressed:
TO MY DAUGHTERS, AFTER THE WEDDING.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
The letter was short.
My girls,
If you are reading this together, then I was right.
Paige, you learned that love cannot be earned by winning.
Clara, you learned that love cannot be protected by silence.
Now remember this.
The worst lie is the one you tell yourself to survive.
I never wanted either of you to survive.
I wanted you to live.
There was one last sentence.
And it was the only one that made both of us cry.
Your wedding was never a trap for Paige.
It was a trap for the version of yourselves that believed you had to lose one another to feel loved.
Paige folded into my arms.
For the first time in twenty-nine years, my sister hugged me without checking who was watching.
May you like
I held her.
And somewhere in the dark, I thought I could almost hear Mom laughing.
