Chapter 6
Nobody moved.
The music continued playing.
Someone laughed in the backyard.
The cake candles remained unlit.
Linda's face had gone pale.
Derek stared at me.
“Who told you?”
I smiled.
“My father.”
Linda's eyes widened.
Derek whispered:
“That isn't possible.”
“That's what you said about the house.”
He stepped closer.
“Emily, listen to me.”
“No.”
“Your father is dead.”
“No.”
“I saw him.”
“You saw a body?”
He froze.
“No.”
“Then you don't know.”
Linda interrupted.
“Enough.”
I turned toward her.
“You spent years telling me my father abandoned me.”
She said nothing.
“You told me he was selfish.”
Nothing.
“You told me he didn't want me.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You told me he died alone.”
Derek looked at his mother.
“Mom.”
She snapped:
“Be quiet.”
I almost smiled.
For the first time, Derek looked frightened of her.
I placed the folder on the table.
“The trust belongs to me.”
Linda laughed.
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I have the original deed.”
“You don't.”
“I have the original medical file.”
“You don't.”
“I have your recordings.”
She stopped.
I knew I had hit the right place.
Derek looked at me.
“What recordings?”
Linda turned toward him.
“Derek.”
He stared at her.
“What recordings?”
She didn't answer.
I watched the realization spread across his face.
“You never told me.”
Linda snapped:
“You didn't need to know.”
His voice became angry.
“You said everything was legal.”
“It is.”
“You said Emily would never find out.”
“She won't.”
“She already has.”
The room became silent.
Then the front door opened.
Michael walked inside.
Derek looked at him.
His face changed.
“You.”
Michael nodded.
“Hello, Derek.”
Derek stepped backward.
“You're dead.”
“No.”
“I saw the accident.”
“You saw a staged accident.”
Linda grabbed the table.
Michael looked at her.
“You should have left Emily alone.”
Linda's face hardened.
“You don't know anything.”
“I know your father stole from the company.”
Her eyes widened.
“I know you helped.”
She said nothing.
“I know Derek signed documents he didn't understand.”
Derek looked at Michael.
“What did my mother do?”
Michael answered:
“She used you.”
Derek stared at Linda.
“Is that true?”
Linda slapped him.
The room went silent.
She immediately realized what she had done.
Derek touched his cheek.
For the first time, he looked at her not as his mother.
But as a stranger.
“You hit me.”
“You deserved it.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You always said I was your favorite.”
“You were useful.”
That sentence broke something in him.
He stepped away.
I watched him.
The man who had grabbed my hair that morning.
The man who had believed he could order me around.
Now standing in silence because the person he had spent his life obeying had finally revealed what he meant to her.
Then the police arrived.
Michael had called them.
Linda was taken into custody for fraud, coercion, and financial crimes.
Derek wasn't arrested immediately.
Instead, he gave investigators the documents he had signed.
He gave them passwords.
Emails.
Bank records.
Everything.
But before they took Linda away, she looked at me.
“You think you've won?”
I said nothing.
She smiled.
“You haven't found your father.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
She leaned closer.
“He never wanted you.”
Michael stepped between us.
“Don't listen to her.”
Linda laughed.
“You'll learn.”
Then she was gone.
Derek stood in the empty room.
He looked at me.
“Emily.”
I didn't answer.
“I didn't know.”
“You knew enough.”
“I know.”
“You let her hurt me.”
“I know.”
“You let her control me.”
“I know.”
He looked at the floor.
“I was raised to obey her.”
I stared at him.
“So was your father.”
He looked up.
“What?”
I opened the folder.
There was a final page.
A handwritten note.
Derek isn't the first son Linda has controlled.
I looked at him.
“Your father tried to escape her too.”
Derek's face changed.
“Where is my father?”
May you like
I answered quietly.
“That's what we're going to find out.”
