Chapter 14 - MY MOTHER’S REAL BETRAYAL
My mother asked for a lawyer.
Then she asked for me.
I should have refused.
I didn’t.
We sat across from each other in a federal interview room.
No wedding flowers.
No family photographs.
No role for her to perform.
Just two women and thirty-two years of manipulation.
“I loved you.”
She said it first.
I stared at her.
“Don’t use past tense unless you mean it.”
Her eyes lowered.
“I love you.”
“That hasn’t prevented much.”
“No.”
At least she admitted that.
She told me the truth in pieces.
She had known Northstar was corrupt.
She had known Dad and Stephen continued parts of it after Grandma tried shutting it down.
She had hidden Grandma’s lockbox because Evelyn ordered her to.
Then Dad discovered the trust.
He demanded access.
Mom refused.
For years.
That surprised me.
“So when did you change?”
“When his company started failing.”
Three years earlier.
Dad was facing bankruptcy.
Not simply business failure.
If his books were examined deeply, old Northstar transactions could surface.
Bankruptcy could expose everything.
Mom panicked.
She contacted Stephen.
Stephen proposed using me.
Mom agreed.
That was her real betrayal.
Not one impulsive crime.
A deliberate decision made over months.
“You offered your own daughter to a criminal conspiracy.”
She cried.
“I thought it would only be a loan.”
“You helped them target my trust.”
“I didn’t know Stephen wanted CipherStone.”
“You helped Jason enter my life.”
Silence.
“How long did you know he was seeing Sydney?”
“Before he proposed.”
My jaw tightened.
“You let him propose.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me plan the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“You came to every fitting.”
She covered her face.
“Yes.”
I felt nothing for several seconds.
Then anger returned.
Clean.
Sharp.
Useful.
“Why did Grandma trust you with the box?”
Mom lowered her hands.
“Because she thought I would protect you.”
“And did you?”
“For a long time.”
“Until protecting Dad mattered more.”
She nodded.
That was the first honest thing she had said that hurt more because she did not defend it.
Then I asked.
“What pages does Dad have?”
“The deaths.”
“What does that mean?”
“Evelyn kept a separate record whenever someone in Northstar died unexpectedly.”
Marcus’s father.
A banker.
A contractor.
An attorney.
Four deaths.
All officially accidents or natural causes.
Dad had those pages.
“Did Dad kill them?”
“No.”
“You sound certain.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because Robert was terrified too.”
Dad was not the killer.
Maybe.
Then Mom revealed the betrayal inside the betrayal.
She had contacted Stephen not only to save Dad’s company.
She also wanted Stephen to find who had killed Marcus’s father.
“What?”
“Robert believed it was Gregory.”
“Gregory says it was Stephen.”
“Stephen blamed Robert.”
Classic Northstar.
Everyone holding a knife and pointing at someone else.
“Who did Grandma believe?”
Mom whispered.
“Someone named Catherine.”
I frowned.
“Who is Catherine?”
“I don’t know.”
Naomi later searched the old records.
No Catherine among investors.
Employees.
Attorneys.
Accountants.
Nothing.
Then Marcus found a reference inside his father’s personal calendar.
C.H.
Meeting at 9.
C.H.
Call Evelyn.
C.H. has proof.
Catherine’s last name likely began with H.
Hours later, we found a former Northstar compliance officer.
Catherine Hale.
Age sixty-eight.
Still alive.
Living under another name in Vermont.
The anonymous messages stopped the moment we found her.
I stared at my phone.
Then I understood.
The anonymous sender might be Catherine.
I sent one message.
WE FOUND YOU.
The reply came immediately.
NO.
YOU FOUND WHERE I WANTED YOU TO LOOK.
Then another.
IF ROBERT HAS THE DEATH PAGES, GET TO HIM BEFORE GREGORY DOES.
I typed.
WHY GREGORY?
The response took longer.
BECAUSE GREGORY DIDN’T KILL MARCUS’S FATHER.
HE ORDERED SOMEONE ELSE TO.
My heart accelerated.
WHO?
Three dots.
Then.
DIANE KNOWS.
I turned toward Mom.
She looked at my phone.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“Meline.”
“Who killed Marcus’s father?”
Mom stood.
“I need my lawyer.”
I blocked nothing.
Stopped nothing.
I only asked once more.
“Who?”
She looked me in the eyes.
And whispered.
“Jason’s mother.”
I froze.
Jason had always told me his mother died when he was seven.
Just like his father, another dead parent.
Another story.
Another lie.
And according to Mom, she was alive.
Her real name was Catherine Hale.
The anonymous source we had been searching for.
May you like
The woman warning me to fear everyone else.
The woman who had allegedly killed Marcus’s father.
