Chapter 2: My Mother’s Favorite Daughter
“Mom?”
Diane didn’t answer.
My father stared at her from across the broken champagne glass.
“What did Lauren mean?”
My mother rose slowly from her chair.
She was wearing the pale-blue gown I had bought for her three weeks earlier. I remembered how she had hugged me during the fitting and told me my grandfather would have been proud.
Now she could barely look at me.
“I gave Lauren access to the family files,” she admitted.
The words struck harder than the video.
“Why?”
“Because the house should never have gone entirely to you.”
My father’s face changed.
“Diane.”
“No,” she snapped. “Everyone has spent years pretending it was fair.”
She looked at me, and decades of buried resentment appeared in her eyes.
“Your grandfather treated Lauren like she was a mistake. He paid for your college. He helped you start your business. Then he left you a property worth millions while your sister received almost nothing.”
“He left Lauren two hundred thousand dollars.”
“And she deserved more.”
Lauren began crying again.
“Mom, stop.”
But Diane had spent too many years waiting to say those words.
“You were always the responsible one,” she told me. “You always landed on your feet. Lauren needed help.”
“So you helped her forge my signature?”
“I never forged anything.”
Arthur lifted one of the documents.
“Someone provided detailed samples of Megan’s signature, a copy of her driver’s license, and the security answers associated with the property account.”
I looked at my mother.
She had helped me renew my driver’s license six months earlier after my wallet was stolen.
She knew the name of my first teacher.
She knew the street where my grandfather had lived.
She knew everything they would have needed.
“I thought Ethan was helping Lauren negotiate a fair family agreement,” Diane said. “I didn’t know they were having an affair.”
“That makes it better?”
“I was trying to protect both my daughters.”
“No. You were protecting Lauren from the consequences of her choices.”
Lauren flinched.
Ethan stepped forward again.
“This family has problems that have nothing to do with me.”
Arthur almost smiled.
“The loan application was submitted from an internet address registered to your office.”
Ethan’s mouth closed.
Carol pushed through the crowd and confronted her son.
“You told me Megan wanted to refinance the property to invest in your company.”
Ethan looked around the ballroom, calculating.
He was searching for someone who still believed him.
There was no one left.
“I can explain everything privately,” he said.
“You’ve had months to explain,” I replied. “You chose to lie instead.”
Lauren wiped her face.
“He needed the money because his company was collapsing.”
Carol stared at Ethan.
“What?”
“He owes investors almost two million dollars,” Lauren continued. “He said the house would save him.”
Ethan’s expression became vicious.
“You were part of it.”
“Because you told me we were going to be together.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“You said you loved me.”
A few guests raised their phones to record.
For once, Lauren seemed not to notice.
She reached into her purse and pulled out her own phone.
“I have every message you sent me.”
Ethan laughed coldly.
“Then show them the messages where you begged me to leave your sister.”
“You came to me first.”
“Because you made it easy.”
Lauren’s face crumpled.
I should have felt satisfaction watching them destroy each other.
Instead, I felt exhausted.
They had treated my life like a prize they could divide after winning.
My mother approached me.
“Megan, please. We can settle this as a family.”
“A family doesn’t steal from one daughter to reward the other.”
Her hand reached toward mine.
I stepped away.
That hurt her.
I could see it.
But it didn’t hurt her nearly as much as her betrayal had hurt me.
Arthur quietly told the security director to seal the ballroom exits until law enforcement arrived.
Ethan heard him.
“You called the police?”
“The county investigator was notified when the forged application was discovered,” Arthur said. “Tonight’s recording simply provided additional evidence.”
Ethan looked at Lauren with pure contempt.
“This is your fault.”
Lauren stared at him.
Then she placed one hand over her stomach.
Her next words silenced the entire ballroom again.
“I’m pregnant.”
Ethan froze.
May you like
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears.
“And the baby is yours.”
