Chapter 11 - BRANDON’S MOTHER TURNED AGAINST HIM
Three days later, Gertrude called me.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
“What?”
Her voice was quieter than usual.
“I need to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Brandon.”
I laughed softly.
“That narrows nothing.”
“Can I come by?”
“No.”
She went silent.
“Then meet me somewhere.”
I considered hanging up.
Instead, I asked Evelyn to come with me.
We met Gertrude at a coffee shop.
She looked different without the confidence of my house behind her.
No expensive wine.
No oversized dining table.
No Hailey filming.
Just a tired woman with a folder.
She placed it between us.
“I found these.”
Inside were bank statements.
Emails.
Printed messages.
Several involved the hidden account.
Others showed transfers from Gertrude’s own small retirement account to Brandon.
I looked up.
“You gave him money?”
“He said it was temporary.”
“How much?”
“Forty-six thousand.”
I stared at her.
She looked ashamed.
“He told me the business needed help.”
“Which business?”
“He never said.”
Evelyn flipped through the papers.
One transfer went directly into B&R Property Ventures.
Gertrude’s voice trembled.
“He told me you refused to support him.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was again.
Another version of Charlotte.
Cold.
Controlling.
Selfish.
The villain Brandon used whenever he needed someone else’s money.
Gertrude looked at me.
“I believed him.”
“I know.”
“He said the renovation loan would repay me.”
I stared at her.
“So that’s why you helped.”
She flinched.
“I thought you had already agreed.”
“You photographed my identification.”
She looked down.
“He said you were too busy to handle the paperwork.”
“You told Hailey I never check anything.”
Her face tightened.
“I was angry.”
“You made Skylar eat alone.”
That landed harder than the money.
Gertrude’s eyes filled.
“She was disrespectful.”
“She asked why you were ordering another dinner.”
“I was embarrassed.”
“So you punished an eleven-year-old because she noticed your spending?”
Gertrude looked away.
I closed the folder.
“I can understand how Brandon manipulated you.”
She looked hopeful.
“I cannot excuse what you did to my daughter.”
Her face fell.
“I’m sorry.”
“Tell her.”
“I will.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“You will ask whether she wants to hear it.”
Gertrude nodded slowly.
Then she pushed the folder toward me.
“Keep these.”
“Why?”
“Because Brandon lied to all of us.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
She frowned.
“He lied to you.”
I touched the folder.
“But you made your own choices.”
Gertrude stared at me for several seconds.
Then nodded.
“You’re right.”
It was the first time I had ever heard her say those words.
May you like
I did not forgive her.
But I took the evidence.
