Chapter 6 - HAILEY BROKE FIRST
Hailey started crying before anyone accused her directly.
That told me everything.
“I didn’t forge anything.”
She backed toward the staircase.
“I swear.”
Brandon pointed at her.
“Nobody said you did.”
“Because I didn’t.”
Evelyn spoke calmly.
“What did you do?”
Hailey looked at Gertrude.
Gertrude’s expression hardened.
“Do not answer her.”
Evelyn smiled slightly.
“That is excellent legal advice from someone who is not Hailey’s attorney.”
Hailey looked trapped.
I had never liked my sister-in-law much.
But in that moment, she looked less arrogant than terrified.
“What did Brandon tell you?”
I asked again.
She swallowed.
“He said you were transferring the house because you were planning to move closer to your office.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Her eyes shifted toward the boxes.
“Later, I thought maybe you were leaving.”
Brandon stepped toward her.
“Hailey.”
She flinched.
That reaction mattered.
Evelyn saw it too.
“What money were you promised?”
Hailey’s mouth opened.
Gertrude snapped.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Hailey suddenly shouted.
“You said this would be easy.”
Gertrude stared at her.
“You said Charlotte never checks anything.”
The room went silent.
My stomach dropped.
Hailey covered her mouth.
She realized too late what she had said.
I looked at Gertrude.
“She said I never check anything?”
Gertrude’s face became rigid.
Hailey started talking faster.
“I only agreed to help with the design accounts.”
“What design accounts?”
“The money for furniture and management.”
“Forty-five thousand dollars?”
Hailey looked shocked.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
She sat down hard.
Brandon rubbed both hands over his face.
“You idiot.”
Hailey looked at him.
“You told me that was my payment.”
“For helping with the project.”
“What project?”
I asked.
Nobody answered.
I stepped closer.
“What project?”
Gertrude finally spoke.
“The house needed work.”
“Ninety thousand dollars of work does not require a three hundred eighty thousand dollar loan.”
Her eyes flickered.
That was when the front door opened.
Two people entered.
One was a representative from the financing company.
The other showed identification.
County fraud investigator.
Brandon went completely pale.
“What is this?”
The investigator closed the door behind him.
“Mr. Reed, we need to discuss the transfer document submitted with your financing application.”
Gertrude grabbed the back of a chair.
Hailey began crying again.
Brandon looked at me.
“You called the police?”
“I called people who understand forged signatures.”
“You’re destroying this family.”
“No.”
My voice remained steady.
“I froze a card.”
I looked around the room.
“The rest of you did everything after that.”
The investigator asked Brandon to sit.
Brandon did not.
Instead, he pointed at Gertrude.
“She handled the paperwork.”
Gertrude stared at her son.
For the first time all morning, she looked genuinely shocked.
“Excuse me?”
Brandon continued.
“My mother organized the documents.”
Gertrude’s face twisted.
May you like
“You coward.”
And just like that, the family loyalty they had demanded from me disappeared.
