The lake house was forty minutes away, but my father's words stayed in the car with us.
I did not tell Chloe what he had said immediately. She sat beside me with her hands folded over the velvet box containing her mother's earrings. The box had become strangely heavy in the last few hours, as if everything connected to Elaine had acquired weight.
“You're driving too fast,” Chloe said.
I glanced at the speedometer and eased off the accelerator.
“Sorry.”
She looked through the windshield.
“He said he betrayed us.”
“I heard him.”
“Your father doesn't say things like that.”
“No.”
“Then whatever this is, it's serious.”
I nodded.
Neither of us spoke again until we reached the lake house.
The place was dark except for one lamp beside the front window. Dad had left the porch light on. He opened the door before I knocked, wearing the same clothes he'd had on earlier.
He looked older than he had that afternoon.
Mom wasn't there.
Harper wasn't there either.
That was the first thing I noticed.
The second was the folder sitting on the dining table.
Dad followed my eyes.
“Sit down.”
I stayed standing.
“What happened between you and Elaine?”
He looked at Chloe.
“I owe you the truth.”
“Yes,” she said.
He lowered himself into a chair.
“Your mother and I were already having problems when Elaine became sick.”
Chloe's expression tightened.
Dad continued.
“Not because of an affair. I need you to understand that first.”
I said nothing.
“Your mother believed Elaine was hiding money from her husband. She thought Elaine had convinced me to help her move it.”
“Did you?” I asked.
Dad looked at me.
“Yes.”
Chloe inhaled sharply.
“Why?”
“Because Elaine was afraid someone was stealing from her.”
“Who?”
“My business partner.”
I frowned.
“Lucas?”
Dad shook his head.
“Not Lucas.”
He opened the folder.
Inside were bank statements, handwritten notes, copies of contracts, and photographs.
The dates stretched back nearly six years.
I picked up the first statement.
There were transfers from my father's business account to another account under a company name I didn't recognize.
“What's this?”
“A shell company.”
“Who owned it?”
Dad's face hardened.
“Technically, Harper's boyfriend at the time.”
I looked up.
“Evan?”
Dad nodded.
I remembered Evan.
He had been around the family for almost three years. Charming, ambitious, always talking about investments. Harper had broken up with him shortly before Chloe and I became engaged.
“Why would you send him money?”
“I didn't.”
I stared at the statement.
“Then who did?”
Dad pointed to the signature.
“That was forged.”
I looked closer.
The signature resembled his.
But something was wrong with it.
“I didn't authorize those transfers,” he said. “By the time I discovered them, more than eighty thousand dollars was gone.”
Chloe leaned forward.
“Did Elaine know?”
“She discovered it before I did.”
“Then why didn't she tell anyone?”
“Because she was trying to find out who had access to the records.”
Dad's fingers trembled slightly.
“She suspected someone in the family.”
I thought about Harper.
“She suspected Harper?”
“Not at first.”
“Who?”
Dad looked at me.
“Your mother.”
I felt the room change.
Chloe stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because your mother had access to my office. She knew my passwords. She knew which accounts I used.”
“But you said the signatures were forged.”
“They were.”
“And Mom knew?”
“She knew about the missing money.”
“Did she steal it?”
“No.”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“She covered it.”
I didn't understand.
“Covered what?”
“The withdrawals.”
He pulled another document from the folder.
“Your mother discovered the transfers before I did. She moved money from our personal account to cover the business shortfall.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought I had done it.”
Chloe frowned.
“Why would she think that?”
“Because I had told her about Elaine.”
I stared at him.
“What exactly did you tell her?”
“That Elaine had asked me for help.”
“With what?”
Dad looked toward the window.
“She had found evidence that someone was using her medical expenses to hide fraudulent payments.”
Chloe's face went pale.
“Her medical bills?”
“Yes.”
“Someone stole from her?”
Dad nodded.
“And when she tried to investigate, someone threatened her.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
Chloe looked at me.
“Was that why she was afraid?”
“Yes.”
Dad reached into the folder and pulled out another page.
“This was found among her belongings.”
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
Elaine's.
The note was short.
If anything happens to me, ask Daniel's father about the account.
Chloe read it twice.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I promised Elaine.”
“Before she died?”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was dying.”
“I knew.”
“And you still kept this from me?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“She made me promise because she believed telling you would put you in danger.”
Chloe's voice cracked.
“What danger?”
Dad looked at me.
“The same person who had been taking money from Elaine's accounts knew about you.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because you were her only child.”
Chloe shook her head.
“That doesn't explain anything.”
“It does if the person wanted Elaine to stop investigating.”
She looked at the photograph from the hotel.
The one of her and her mother.
“Someone had access to that.”
Dad nodded.
“That photograph was taken from Elaine's personal files.”
I stared at him.
“Who had access?”
He didn't answer.
I already knew.
“Harper?”
Dad looked down.
“She wasn't the only one.”
My phone buzzed.
Mom.
I ignored it.
It buzzed again.
Then again.
Chloe looked at me.
“Answer.”
I did.
“Where are you?”
Mom's voice was controlled.
“At the lake house.”
“With your father?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Daniel, you need to come home.”
“No.”
“You don't understand what your father is telling you.”
“Then tell me.”
Silence.
“Your father has spent years protecting Elaine's reputation.”
“Why?”
“He thought she was innocent.”
“Wasn't she?”
Mom's voice changed.
“Ask him about the night she came to our house.”
Dad stood abruptly.
“Don't.”
I looked at him.
“What night?”
Mom heard him.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
“What happened?”
“She brought documents.”
“What documents?”
“Financial records.”
Dad grabbed the phone from my hand.
“Stop.”
Mom's voice came through the speaker.
“You promised me you would never tell him.”
Dad froze.
I stared at him.
“You promised Mom?”
He lowered the phone.
The line was still open.
Then Mom said quietly:
“Daniel, your father wasn't protecting Elaine.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“He was protecting himself.”
The call ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Chloe asked the question neither of us wanted to hear.
“Which one of them is lying?”
Dad looked at her.
“I don't know anymore.”
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
Because my father had always been the person I believed when everyone else disagreed.
Now he was sitting across from me admitting that the truth had been buried for years.
And somewhere inside those buried years was a person who had known exactly how to hurt Chloe.
The next morning, the boutique called.
The dress had survived.
But they had found something inside the lining.
A small folded piece of paper.
And Chloe's mother's handwriting was on it.
Click here to continue reading: PART 6: The Note Hidden Inside the Wedding Dress Explained Why Elaine Had Trusted My Father, but One Name Was Missing From Her Warning
Five Days Before the Wedding, One Cruel Joke Turned a Family Celebration Into Something None of Us Could Take Back
Part 5 of 20
