Chapter 6
For one second, my brain refused to understand what my eyes were seeing.
Ryan stood beside the SUV.
Not easily.
Not normally.
But he stood.
His right hand gripped the door.
A brace wrapped one leg.
His body shook with effort.
But he was on his feet.
Jessica whispered, “I knew it.”
I looked at her.
“You knew what?”
“He’s been lying about how bad the injury is.”
Ryan saw us.
His expression changed from anger to panic.
Then he reached back into the SUV and pulled out crutches.
By the time he crossed the street, his face was tight with pain.
I didn’t care.
“You can walk.”
“Barely.”
“You let your mother wheel you onto my porch.”
“The doctors told me not to put weight on—”
“You stood up to get out of a car.”
“Sarah, listen.”
Jessica stepped away from the door.
Ryan looked at her.
His face darkened.
“What are you doing here?”
She laughed bitterly.
“Ruining your morning.”
“You need to leave.”
“It isn’t your house.”
“It’s my wife’s.”
“Don’t call me that,” I said.
Ryan looked at me.
“Please.”
I held up Jessica’s photograph.
“Did you take out a two-million-dollar life insurance policy on me?”
His face went still.
That was enough.
I stepped backward.
He moved toward me.
Jessica raised her phone.
“I’m recording.”
Ryan stopped.
“You have no idea what she’s done, Sarah.”
Jessica smiled.
“There it is.”
He pointed at her.
“She forged the documents.”
“She says your mother did.”
His eyes flicked toward me.
Just once.
But I saw it.
“Marlene knew, didn’t she?”
“Mom knew about the property.”
“Before we got married?”
Ryan said nothing.
My chest hurt.
“Answer me.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
There are sentences guilty people should stop using.
That was one of them.
I opened the door wider but stayed behind the threshold.
“What was it like?”
Ryan shifted on his crutches.
“My father invested with your dad years ago.”
I frowned.
“My father never mentioned your family.”
“Because it went badly.”
“How badly?”
“My father lost everything.”
I remembered Ryan’s father only vaguely.
He died before our wedding.
Ryan rarely talked about him.
“He blamed Dad?”
“He blamed Richard for pulling out of a development deal.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“The lake property was part of it.”
I stared.
“That house belonged to my grandmother.”
“The land was supposed to become part of a commercial project. Your father bought out the other investors when the project failed.”
“So?”
“So my father believed half that land should have been his.”
“Believed?”
“Yes.”
“Was there a contract?”
“No.”
“Then it wasn’t his.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“I’ll survive.”
He looked exhausted.
“Mom found out you inherited the property.”
“Before our wedding.”
“Yes.”
“And she told you to marry me?”
“No.”
“Jessica showed me the email.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Mom hated your father.”
“And you?”
“I hated what he did to my family.”
“So you married his daughter.”
“I fell in love with you.”
“After selecting me because of a property dispute?”
“It didn’t start as love.”
I felt those words harder than I expected.
Jessica looked away.
Ryan continued quickly.
“But it became love.”
“You spent eleven years waiting for my house.”
“No.”
“Then why forge the transfer?”
“I didn’t.”
“Who did?”
He looked at Jessica.
She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Ryan’s voice sharpened.
“You signed Sarah’s name.”
“That’s a lie.”
“You scanned it.”
“Because you asked me to scan old tax records.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
Their voices rose.
I suddenly saw how stupid both of them had been.
Two selfish people.
Each convinced the other was the villain.
Each holding enough dirt to destroy the other.
And somehow they had dragged Emma into it.
Dragged me into it.
Maybe almost killed us.
“Stop.”
Neither listened.
“Stop!”
They fell silent.
I looked at Ryan.
“Why the insurance policy?”
He paled.
“It was part of a financial package.”
“What does that mean?”
“It was tied to the development.”
“Insurance on my life was tied to a real estate development?”
“No. It was a private policy.”
“Then answer the question.”
He shifted.
“I was worried.”
“About?”
“You.”
I laughed.
“You were worried I might die?”
“We were still married. If something happened—”
“You left me.”
“I was still legally responsible for debts.”
“There were no debts.”
“You don’t know that.”
My stomach tightened.
“What debts?”
Ryan immediately realized he had said too much.
“What debts?”
Jessica whispered, “Ask him about the line of credit.”
I turned to her.
“What line of credit?”
Ryan’s face went white.
Jessica kept her eyes on him.
“Eight hundred thousand dollars.”
I thought she had to be lying.
“Against what?”
“The construction company.”
“That belongs to my brother.”
“Not according to the paperwork Ryan filed.”
I stared at Ryan.
“You involved Mark?”
“I didn’t involve anybody.”
“What did you do?”
He gripped the crutches harder.
“Mark asked me for help.”
“Help with what?”
Ryan looked away.
My older brother Mark had taken over Dad’s construction company.
For four years, he told everyone business was fine.
Better than fine.
He bought a new truck.
Remodeled his kitchen.
Took his family to Hawaii.
“Ryan.”
He sighed.
“Mark had cash flow problems.”
“How bad?”
“Bad.”
“So?”
“He needed credit.”
“And?”
“He couldn’t qualify.”
My stomach turned.
“You used my inheritance?”
Ryan didn’t answer.
I grabbed my phone.
“Sarah.”
I called Mark.
He answered cheerfully.
“Hey, little sis.”
“Did you borrow money from Ryan?”
Silence.
That was becoming the soundtrack of my life.
“Mark?”
“Who told you?”
I laughed.
“Everybody except my family tells me things, apparently.”
“Sarah, it’s complicated.”
“How much?”
“Not over the phone.”
“How much?”
He exhaled.
“Six hundred.”
“Thousand?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Jessica had said eight hundred.
“Ryan says you asked him for help.”
“I did.”
“Did you use my lake house as collateral?”
“No.”
“Did Ryan?”
Another silence.
“Mark.”
“I didn’t know he would do that.”
I leaned against the doorway.
“What did you sign?”
“A partnership agreement.”
“With Ryan?”
“With an investment company.”
“What company?”
“Carter Development Holdings.”
I stared at Ryan.
“You have a development company?”
“It’s an LLC.”
I nearly laughed.
“Of course it is.”
Mark continued through the phone.
“I thought he was helping me.”
“What happened to the six hundred thousand?”
“I paid suppliers. Payroll. Taxes.”
“And the other two hundred?”
“What other two hundred?”
I looked at Jessica.
She nodded.
My skin went cold.
“Mark, get your lawyer.”
“Sarah—”
“Get your lawyer and don’t sign anything else.”
I hung up.
Ryan stepped closer.
“You’re making this worse.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
I finally understood.
“For the first time, I’m making it harder for you.”
He stared at me.
A police cruiser turned onto the street.
Jessica exhaled.
“I called them before he got here.”
Ryan looked at her.
“You stupid—”
“Don’t.”
I stepped between them.
The cruiser stopped.
Detective Ramirez climbed out of the passenger side.
Another officer followed.
Ramirez looked at Ryan standing on crutches.
Then at me.
Then at Jessica.
“This is convenient.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not yet.”
Jessica held up her phone.
“I have something you need.”
Ramirez looked at her.
“What?”
“Ryan’s second phone.”
Ryan went completely still.
Jessica smiled.
“You thought it burned in the car.”
May you like
She reached into her purse.
“But Emma wasn’t the only one hiding evidence.”
