Chapter 7 - Brianna Breaks First
Theresa spun toward my sister.
“Go home.”
“No.”
“Brianna.”
“I said no!”
It was the first time I had ever heard Brianna shout at our mother.
Stephen stayed unnervingly calm.
“Everyone is emotional.”
Brianna pointed at him.
“Shut up.”
That shocked him.
Good.
She looked at me.
“I knew about the salon money.”
Lucy closed her eyes.
“I knew Mom was using your transfers.”
My jaw tightened.
“But I didn’t know about the trust at first.”
“At first.”
“I found out eight months ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
Brianna started crying.
Not enough to erase what she had done.
But real.
“Stephen said if I talked, I would lose the salon and go to prison for fraud.”
“Were you committing fraud?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
No excuse.
She had signed invoices for expenses that never existed.
Renovation materials.
Consulting charges.
Medical transportation for Lucy that never happened.
Money moved into the salon.
Brianna spent some.
She knew it was wrong.
But Stephen built the structure.
Theresa encouraged it.
“And Lucy?”
Brianna looked at my wife.
Her face collapsed.
“I thought Mom was being cruel.”
“You laughed.”
“I know.”
“You filmed her.”
“I know.”
“You watched her starve.”
“I KNOW!”
Lucy began crying quietly.
I held her hand.
Brianna deserved no easy absolution.
Then she said:
“But I didn’t know Stephen was giving Mom pills.”
Silence.
Stephen’s expression changed.
Theresa shouted:
“Stop!”
I stared at my mother.
“What pills?”
Brianna explained.
Stephen delivered bottles labeled as supplements meant to “help Lucy sleep” and “settle nausea.”
Theresa mixed them into tea.
Brianna thought they came from Lucy’s doctors.
Until she saw one bottle with someone else’s name.
She asked Stephen.
He told her not to worry.
My throat tightened.
Lucy whispered:
“That’s why I stopped drinking tea.”
Theresa shook her head.
“They were harmless.”
Dr. Bennett, who had been standing just outside after hearing raised voices, entered.
“We’ll determine that.”
Stephen immediately turned toward the door.
I stepped into his path.
“You’re staying.”
He smiled.
“You can’t detain me.”
“No.”
I stepped aside.
“But you can leave.”
That confused everyone.
I wanted him moving.
Talking.
Panicking.
Greed had triggered the trap.
Now fear needed to finish it.
Stephen walked out.
Theresa followed.
Brianna stayed.
Then she pulled an old tablet from her bag.
“The videos Lucy mentioned.”
My hands shook.
“There’s more.”
She unlocked a hidden folder.
Not only Lucy’s shaved head.
Not only humiliation.
A video of Theresa and Stephen arguing in the kitchen.
Stephen said:
“If Lucy survives until Nathan comes home, everything gets complicated.”
Theresa answered:
“Then make sure he doesn’t come home.”
My stomach dropped.
Brianna whispered:
“That’s why I was afraid when you said you had a million dollars.”
May you like
“Why?”
“Because Stephen told Mom there was already a plan for your Canadian accident.”
