Chapter 6: The Sister Comes Forward
She called at noon.
I was sitting at the kitchen table with Grace and Patricia when my phone lit up with a number I recognized.
I had never saved it under a name.
I hadn't needed to.
I had memorized it eleven months ago when my investigator first included it in a report, circled in red, beside the note: *frequent contact, irregular hours.*
I put it on speaker without answering, just held the phone flat on the table.
Grace looked at me.
I held up one finger.
Wait.
It rang through to voicemail.
A beat of silence, then:
"Chloe.
It's Rebecca." A pause — she was choosing her words carefully.
"I think we should talk.
Just the two of us.
Without Daniel.
I know things got out of hand last night, and I want to explain some things that I don't think you fully understand yet.
Call me back." Another pause.
"Please."
The recording ended.
Grace raised an eyebrow.
"Rebecca is Daniel's sister," I said.
"She is also the registered director of Cassel Property Holdings LLC, which currently holds three properties transferred out of my marital assets over the past two years." I looked at Patricia.
"And she suggested Daniel add himself as secondary trustee to Lily's fund."
Patricia nodded.
"I have the email.
Sent from her personal account to Daniel.
Subject line: *the Lily arrangement.* Dated twenty-two months ago."
Grace wrote something down.
"She doesn't know Patricia came to us."
"No," I said.
"So she's calling because she wants to get ahead of something." Grace tapped her pen against her notepad.
"She thinks she can still manage this."
I picked the phone up and called Rebecca back.
She answered in two rings.
"Chloe.
Thank you."
"What did you want to explain, Rebecca?"
A small pause.
She hadn't expected me to be this direct this quickly.
"I think there's been a terrible misunderstanding.
About the properties.
About — all of it.
Daniel was acting to protect the family's financial interests.
That includes you and Lily.
The structures he put in place were to safeguard assets, not—"
"He moved four hundred and twelve thousand dollars out of Lily's trust fund," I said.
Silence.
"He told you," she said finally, and her voice had changed — the careful, managed tone gone, something sharper underneath.
"He didn't tell me anything.
I found out."
"Chloe." Her voice dropped.
"You don't want to do this.
You really don't.
Daniel has made some mistakes, but if you push this into legal territory, things are going to come out that hurt you too.
Things about your father's estate that you might not want made public."
My hand tightened on the phone.
Grace was already watching me.
"What things?" I said.
"The way certain assets were structured before your father passed.
Some of the offshore arrangements.
It's all very complicated and I'm sure none of it was done improperly, but the optics in a public legal proceeding—"
"Rebecca." I kept my voice even.
"You're threatening me with my dead father's financial records to protect your brother, who stole from a five-year-old."
"I'm not threatening anyone.
I'm suggesting that a quiet, private resolution benefits everyone at this table."
"There is no table," I said.
"That's the part you haven't understood yet." I paused.
"And for your information, my father's estate has been reviewed by two independent firms and is fully documented.
Everything is in order.
But thank you for the suggestion.
Grace — are you getting all of this?"
Grace held up the recorder on the table.
It had been running since I put Rebecca on speaker.
A long silence from Rebecca's end.
"You had me on speaker," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"Goodbye, Rebecca."
I ended the call.
Set the phone down.
Patricia let out a breath.
"She's going to call Daniel."
"Yes," I said.
"In about ninety seconds."
Grace checked the recorder.
"We have her threatening you with reputational harm to prevent a legal proceeding.
That's obstruction.
Combined with the trust documentation and the property transfers—" She looked up.
"Chloe, they're not going to be able to negotiate their way out of this."
My phone buzzed.
A message from Daniel's number.
*What did you say to Rebecca?
She just called me screaming.
This is getting out of control.
Call me.*
May you like
I turned the phone face-down.
"Let it," I said.
