Chapter 14 - My Sister's Bargain
Belle agreed to surrender the drive to her attorney for secure preservation.
Then she disappeared for six hours.
Her attorney called Dana.
He couldn't reach her.
I knew exactly where she had gone.
Our childhood home had a side door near the kitchen that my father never bothered to lock during the day.
Belle had been raised to believe every crisis could be fixed if she got back into his good graces.
I was terrified she would surrender evidence for a promise of forgiveness.
We did not follow her inside or attempt to recover anything ourselves.
Instead, her lawyer made appropriate calls and tried to contact her safely.
Just before midnight, Belle answered.
She was in a motel across town.
Her voice sounded empty.
“He said Mom would lose the house because of me.”
“Where's the drive?” I asked.
She began crying.
“I gave it to him.”
I closed my eyes.
She had betrayed us again.
“I didn't know what else to do.”
“I told you to listen to your lawyer.”
“He showed me a foreclosure notice.”
Dana asked whether she had kept a copy of the notice.
Belle had photographed it.
The document wasn't a foreclosure notice at all.
It was a lender's reservation-of-rights letter about the company's debt.
Nathaniel had presented the worst possible interpretation to frighten her.
Belle finally understood.
For twenty-eight years, she had chased the version of Dad who approved of her.
That version existed only as long as she obeyed.
“I want to tell the truth,” she whispered.
“Then tell it to your attorney,” I said.
“Not just to me.”
The next morning, Graham resigned from Hail Advisory without notice.
Dad told staff the departure was routine.
But Tessa received a message from an old colleague saying Graham had been clearing cabinets the night before.
A commercial camera across the street had recorded someone carrying boxes to a van.
The footage needed proper collection and authentication.
Malcolm contacted counsel to preserve it.
Then Dad's lawyer filed an amended complaint accusing Belle, too, of conspiracy and theft.
The daughter who had helped him was no longer useful.
May you like
So he turned her into another enemy.
