Chapter 4 - The Man My Mother Buried TwicePaige started crying.
But not the way she cried at funerals.
This time there was no audience.
No dramatic sob.
No performance.
Just tears.
“I was nineteen.”
“You were twenty-two.”
She looked away.
Ethan closed the notebook.
“Clara, there is something you need to understand.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I don't need another secret.”
“You're about to get one anyway.”
I hated that he was right.
Paige whispered, “I met Dad.”
The world seemed to stop.
“You what?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Where?”
“At the train station.”
I stared at her.
“What happened?”
“I didn't know who he was at first.”
She wiped her face.
“He came up behind me and called me by my childhood nickname.”
I could barely speak.
“What did you do?”
“I followed him.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought Mom had lied.”
“She did.”
Paige nodded.
“She told me to stay away from him.”
“Why?”
“She said he'd ruin everything.”
“What did he want?”
Paige looked toward Aunt Denise.
“Money.”
My eyes moved to her.
Aunt Denise closed her eyes.
“You're all going to hear it eventually.”
I turned toward her.
“Hear what?”
She looked exhausted.
“Your father wasn't dead.”
“I know that.”
“He left because Eleanor asked him to.”
“Why?”
“Because he had been stealing.”
I stared.
“From the family.”
“From the company.”
“Why didn't Mom report him?”
“Because he was facing prison.”
The pieces shifted.
My mother had spent eighteen years protecting the children of a man she hated.
I could almost hear her voice.
Some wounds never stop hurting. You just learn where not to press.
“But why pretend he was dead?”
Aunt Denise looked at me.
“Because Paige was already becoming like him.”
Paige stiffened.
“That isn't true.”
“Your mother believed you were following his pattern.”
“What pattern?”
“Lying. Taking. Manipulating.”
Paige looked at me.
“She hated me.”
“No,” Denise said.
“She was terrified of losing you.”
Silence.
Then Ethan spoke.
“The financial records show something else.”
He opened the flash drive on his laptop.
There were scanned checks.
Wire transfers.
Property deeds.
And photographs.
One photograph made my blood run cold.
It showed Paige standing beside my father.
Another showed Marcus Kane.
Another showed Aunt Denise.
The three of them were together.
At a restaurant.
Seven years ago.
I looked at Denise.
“You said you barely knew Marcus.”
“I said your mother knew him.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Denise lowered her head.
“I knew him.”
“How?”
“He was Eleanor's accountant.”
My stomach twisted.
“So you all knew each other.”
“Yes.”
“And Paige?”
“She came to him asking questions about the estate.”
Paige shook her head.
“I wanted to know what Mom was hiding.”
“And he told you?”
Denise looked at her.
“He lied.”
Paige went still.
“What?”
“Marcus told you Clara was stealing from the family.”
I looked at Paige.
She stared at me.
“You believed him.”
“I saw the documents.”
“They were forged.”
“No.”
Ethan plugged in another file.
A scanned signature appeared.
My signature.
On a transfer authorizing Paige to access a family account.
“I never signed this.”
“I know,” Ethan said.
Paige took one step closer.
“Then who did?”
Nobody spoke.
Then Brooke, who had remained silent in the corner, suddenly said:
“Look at the signature date.”
I did.
Seven years ago.
The day after the train station meeting.
I looked at my sister.
“You forged my signature.”
Her eyes filled again.
“I didn't.”
“You were there.”
“I was trying to help Mom.”
“By stealing?”
“No!”
She screamed.
Everyone jumped.
“I was trying to get money back.”
“From who?”
She looked at me.
“From Dad.”
My anger faltered.
“What?”
Paige took a shaky breath.
“Marcus told me Dad had taken everything.”
“So you stole it first.”
“I borrowed it.”
“You forged my name.”
“I thought I'd fix it.”
“You never did.”
“I couldn't!”
Her voice broke.
“Because then Marcus said Mom had already found out.”
Aunt Denise whispered, “He threatened her.”
I looked at Paige.
“Who?”
“Marcus.”
“How?”
“He said if I told you, you'd lose everything.”
I stared at my sister.
She had hurt me.
Humiliated me.
Lied to me.
But apparently someone had spent years teaching her exactly how to be afraid.
Then Ethan opened the final file.
It contained a scanned medical report.
Mom's.
My blood ran cold.
Her death had been ruled accidental.
The report showed bruising on her wrist.
Bruising that had never appeared in the official summary.
Someone had grabbed her.
And the date was the night she died.
I looked at Paige.
“Were you there?”
She began shaking.
“Yes.”
My heart broke.
“Did you push her?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Paige looked at Aunt Denise.
May you like
And Aunt Denise finally whispered:
“She fell because Marcus was there.”
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