Chapter 3 - The Story They Prepared
Brenda rushed downstairs.
The second she disappeared, I grabbed the brass key.
It fit the bedroom lock.
Michael had known exactly which key I needed.
I opened the door.
I did not run.
Running would let Derek say I was hysterical.
Instead, I walked toward the staircase while my phone recorded everything.
At the bottom, two sheriff’s deputies stood near the entrance.
Derek was already talking.
“My wife is having some kind of emotional episode.”
Brenda nodded beside him.
“Post-wedding stress.”
Twenty-two relatives remained scattered across the dining room.
Nobody looked at me.
The older deputy saw me on the staircase.
“Mrs. Caldwell?”
“My name is Chloe Bennett.”
Derek stiffened.
I continued downward.
“I told you to stay upstairs.”
The deputy immediately looked at him.
I stopped.
“Please repeat that.”
Derek realized his mistake.
“I meant until she calmed down.”
“I was locked inside.”
Brenda interrupted.
“For her safety.”
The younger deputy looked at me.
“Were you free to leave?”
“No.”
“Did anyone prevent you from leaving the residence?”
“Yes.”
Derek laughed.
“She’s exaggerating.”
I reached the bottom step.
“Check his pocket.”
His expression changed.
“He took my passport and put it in his jacket.”
The deputy turned toward Derek.
“Sir?”
Derek hesitated.
Then he produced my passport.
The room became very quiet.
I took it.
“Thank you.”
Brenda stepped forward.
“She stole forty-five thousand dollars from my son.”
I almost admired the speed of the lie.
“It’s a cashier’s check issued to me by my parents three days before the wedding.”
“I have paperwork showing marital assets.”
Derek grabbed the leather folder.
He handed it to the deputy.
My eyes landed on the final page.
For the first time, I saw something I had missed upstairs.
There was already a signature on one of the documents.
My name.
Chloe Bennett Caldwell.
Except I had never signed it.
Derek noticed me staring.
“You signed that last night.”
“No.”
“Yes, you did.”
Rebecca’s warning flashed through my mind.
Signature mismatch.
Attempted transfer.
Now a forged financial agreement.
I looked at the deputy.
“That is not my signature.”
Derek laughed again.
“Seriously?”
I opened my phone.
Then I showed the deputy Rebecca’s message.
His expression sharpened.
“What transfer?”
Derek stopped smiling.
Brenda moved toward me.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
The deputy raised a hand.
“Ma’am, stay where you are.”
For the first time that morning, Brenda obeyed someone.
I looked around the room.
Twenty-two relatives.
Twenty-two witnesses.
“Did anyone see me sign that document?”
Silence.
Derek stared at them.
His aunt looked down.
Frank folded his arms.
Michael watched the floor.
Not one person answered.
The deputy turned to me.
“Do you want to leave?”
“Yes.”
Derek’s face went pale.
“You walk out that door and we’re done.”
I looked at the man I had married fourteen hours earlier.
“We were done when the rag hit my face.”
I walked outside.
Rebecca was waiting beside a black sedan beyond the sheriff’s vehicle.
I climbed into the passenger seat.
She locked the doors.
Then she handed me a folder.
“I pulled the preliminary banking report while I was driving here.”
I looked at her.
“How bad?”
“The attempted transfer this morning wasn’t the first transaction connected to your name.”
My chest tightened.
“How many?”
May you like
Rebecca opened the folder.
“Six.”
