Chapter 2: The Call She Wasn't Supposed to Receive
Part 2 ⬇️
The charge had been made at 11:47 p.m.
While I was still in the emergency room.
While my knee was being scanned.
While my mother was texting me about Sloan's puffy eyes.
Someone had used my card to pay for the wedding.
I called the card company immediately.
"I need to report an unauthorized transaction."
They confirmed the amount.
Confirmed the timestamp.
Confirmed the card had not left my possession — because the number had been used manually, entered directly online.
Someone had memorized it.
Or photographed it.
I thought about the moment Dad had taken my bag.
I thought about how long he'd held it before I asked for it back.
I screenshot everything and added it to the folder.
Then Greer arrived at the hospital with a wheelchair, two coffees, and a woman in a dark blazer carrying a leather briefcase.
"This is Renata," Greer said.
"She handles fraud and civil litigation."
Renata sat down, opened her laptop, and looked at me calmly.
"Walk me through everything.
Start from the staircase."
I did.
When I finished, she studied the transaction record, the video file, and my mother's text without speaking.
Then she looked up.
"Merritt, I want you to understand something.
What happened to you last night wasn't just a family argument."
She turned the laptop toward me.
"This is fr@ud.
And depending on what the video shows, the staircase incident may qualify as something considerably more serious than an accident."
My phone lit up on the bed beside me.
It was Thatcher.
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What did Thatcher know — and why was he calling Merritt from the wedding venue at 7 a.m.?
The full truth is more shocking than anyone expected.
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