Chapter 7: The Version Paige Wanted Them to See
By eight o’clock, Paige’s edited video had been posted online.
Ryan turned his laptop toward us.
“She cut your cry for help and added audio from the bridal suite.”
My voice played over the image: “Do whatever you want.
It’s your day.”
Dad struck the table with his palm.
“People will believe this.”
“Some already do,” Brooke said.
Comments raced beneath the video.
Celeste shut the laptop.
“We do not fight an edited clip with an argument,” she said.
“We release the complete file.”
“The photographer needs to verify it,” Ryan replied.
“Paige has already called him a liar.”
A knock sounded at the hospital door.
The photographer entered with a hard drive beneath his arm.
“My camera uploads to cloud storage,” he said.
“She took a card, not the original files.”
Ryan stood.
“Can you prove the time stamps?”
“I brought the entire sequence, including the bridal suite recording and the pool footage.”
Brooke exhaled.
“Release it.”
I shook my head.
“Not yet.”
Everyone looked at me.
I held out my hand to Celeste.
“Call Paige.
Tell her I’ll sign at the cottage.”
Dad frowned.
“Marissa—”
“She wants the property.
Make her say why.”
An hour later, I sat in Grandma’s kitchen with my shoulder strapped tightly against me.
Dad stood in the pantry, Ryan waited outside, and the photographer’s camera recorded from a dark shelf.
Paige entered carrying the sale papers.
“You finally came to your senses,” she said.
“Why do you need my half?”
“Because I have debts.”
“What debts?”
“That isn’t your concern.”
“It became my concern when you pushed me into a pool.”
Paige dropped the papers onto the table.
“The wedding cost more than Ryan knows.
I borrowed against the gifts, the honeymoon, even Mom’s retirement account.”
Mom stepped from the hallway.
“You said that money was for a deposit.”
Paige spun around.
“Why are you here?”
“To hear you tell the truth.”
“I needed time,” Paige snapped.
“Once the cottage sold, I could replace everything.”
“You took my retirement savings?”
“You gave it to me.”
“You lied to me.”
Paige pointed toward the door.
“Leave, or I tell Dad you forged the signature willingly.”
Dad came out of the pantry.
“I heard you.”
For one second, Paige’s confidence vanished.
Then she reached for the papers.
“This meeting is over.”
I placed my left hand on them.
“No.
You wanted my signature.”
“I don’t need it anymore.”
Celeste entered with Natalie.
“Yes, you do.
Blue Heron froze the transfer.”
Natalie held up a statement.
“And my notary log proves I never witnessed Marissa sign.”
Paige backed toward the counter.
“You planned this.”
“You planned it first,” I said.
She grabbed Grandma’s ceramic bowl and hurled it toward the shelf holding the camera.
Ryan rushed through the door and caught her wrist before she could reach it.
“Let go of me!”
“Step away from the evidence.”
Two police officers appeared behind Celeste.
Paige stopped struggling.
One officer looked at me.
“Ms.
Cole, do you wish to make a formal statement regarding the pool incident and the forged property documents?”
Paige’s eyes locked onto mine.
“If you do this,” she said, “you will lose Mom forever.”
Mom stepped beside me.
“No,” she said.
“She lost me when I helped you hurt her.”
Paige looked at Dad.
“You’ll let them take me?”
He opened the front door.
“I let you escape consequences for thirty years.
Not tonight.”
The officer asked Paige to turn around.
She lifted her chin.
“Marissa always wanted my life.”
I met her eyes.
“No, Paige.
I wanted my sister.”
As the officers led her outside, Celeste’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, and looked at me.
May you like
“The court clerk approved an emergency hearing for tomorrow,” she said.
“Paige’s attorney has filed a document claiming you are mentally unfit to control the trust.”
