Chapter 7 - Melanie Finally Told the Truth
My sister came to the hospital the next morning.
Alone.
No lawyer.
No makeup.
No expensive dress.
For once, Melanie looked like the younger sister I remembered from childhood rather than the woman who had spent the last several years competing with me.
Hospital security almost refused her entry.
I almost let them.
Then she said something through the intercom.
“Tell Sadie I know what Plan B is.”
I allowed her inside.
Wyatt stayed.
So did Detective Beckett.
Melanie stepped into the room and stopped when she saw my face.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
“You’ve already seen pictures,” I said.
“Not like this.”
“Reality is less flattering.”
She started crying.
I felt nothing.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“Sadie—”
“You stood on the porch.”
“I know.”
“You watched.”
“I know.”
“You told Dad I wouldn’t move.”
“I know.”
My voice rose.
“And you looked annoyed.”
She covered her mouth.
“I didn’t know he had the brick.”
“Would it have mattered?”
“Yes.”
“Would it?”
She didn’t answer.
That answer told me enough.
Wyatt crossed his arms.
“Why are you here?”
Melanie looked at him.
Then quickly away.
“I need protection.”
Beckett stepped forward.
“From whom?”
“Our mother.”
I stared at her.
“What did Mom do?”
“She called me last night.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me Martin had been arrested.”
“That’s public.”
“She said things were collapsing.”
Melanie’s hands shook.
“She said one of us had to fix it.”
“What does that mean?”
Melanie reached into her purse slowly.
Beckett immediately warned her to keep her hands visible.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“I found this in my apartment.”
Beckett took it.
His expression changed as he read.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed it to Samuel, who had just entered.
Samuel read aloud.
If Sadie cannot inherit, Melanie becomes eligible under secondary succession. Do not complicate what has already been arranged.
I stared at Melanie.
“What have you arranged?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why does it say that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying!”
She flinched.
I had almost never yelled at my sister.
She looked shocked.
Good.
“I am lying in a hospital because our father hit me with a brick while you watched.”
“I know.”
“Grandpa may have been murdered.”
Her face collapsed.
“I know.”
“Uncle Martin went after Arthur.”
“I know.”
“Then stop telling me you don’t know.”
Melanie started sobbing.
“I thought they were only trying to scare you.”
The room became silent.
Wyatt’s expression turned dangerous.
“Start at the beginning.”
Melanie sank into a chair.
“Dad is broke.”
Samuel nodded slightly.
“We know.”
“No. You don’t understand.”
She wiped her face.
“He’s not just broke. He owes people money.”
“What people?”
“Investors. Lenders. North Ridge.”
“How much?”
“I heard Mom say seventeen million.”
Samuel swore quietly.
Melanie continued.
“Dad thought the land sale would solve everything. Then something happened with the trust audit.”
“He realized ownership might be challenged,” Samuel said.
“Yes.”
“So they needed Sadie out of the way.”
Melanie looked at me.
“They wanted you to sign something.”
My heart jumped.
“What?”
“A waiver.”
Samuel leaned forward.
“What kind of waiver?”
“I don’t know. Dad said once you signed it, the trust wouldn’t matter.”
“Did he show it to you?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
I believed that part.
“What was your role?”
Melanie stared at her hands.
“Wyatt.”
He laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
“Mom said if I could get close to you, maybe you would postpone the wedding.”
Wyatt’s face hardened.
“She told you to seduce me.”
Melanie flinched.
“She said Sadie had always gotten everything first.”
I almost couldn’t believe her.
“Everything?”
She looked at me.
“Dad’s respect. Grandpa’s attention. Wyatt.”
I stared at her.
“Dad hit me with a brick.”
“I know!”
“Do you still think I got everything?”
She broke down.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Melanie whispered.
“They told me you were leaving anyway.”
“What?”
“They said you planned to move with Wyatt and cut everyone off after the wedding.”
“That wasn’t true.”
“I know now.”
She looked up.
“Mom said you were going to take the family property.”
I stared at her.
“Did you know about the will?”
“Not exactly.”
“What did you know?”
“That Grandpa had wanted you to have something.”
Samuel asked, “What something?”
“Dad called it the contingency.”
My stomach twisted.
“What is Plan B?”
Melanie wiped her face.
Her voice dropped.
“If you survived the attack, they were going to make it look like Wyatt arranged it.”
Wyatt went completely still.
“What?”
“They planned to say you two were fighting.”
“That’s insane.”
“They already had messages.”
“What messages?”
“Fake ones.”
Beckett stepped closer.
“Explain.”
“Someone created screenshots.”
“Of?”
“Sadie supposedly telling Mom that Wyatt was controlling her.”
I stared at her.
Melanie continued.
“And Wyatt supposedly threatening Sadie.”
Wyatt shook his head.
“They were going to frame me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“If you were arrested, Sadie would be alone.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“And vulnerable to pressure.”
Melanie nodded.
“Mom said after enough medication and enough fear, Sadie would sign anything.”
A cold wave moved through me.
My mother had planned for me to survive.
Just not as myself.
Detective Beckett asked, “Where are these fake messages?”
“Dad’s tablet.”
“We seized his tablet.”
“Not that one.”
She looked at me.
“He keeps another tablet in the lake cabin.”
Grandpa’s lake cabin.
My heart jumped.
“We still own that?”
Melanie gave me a strange look.
“Dad says he does.”
Samuel’s mouth tightened.
“According to Theodore’s will, Sadie owns that too.”
Of course.
My family had been using my inheritance for nine years.
Beckett was already making calls.
Melanie grabbed his sleeve.
“There’s something else.”
He looked down at her hand until she released him.
“What?”
“The cabin has a basement room.”
I frowned.
“There isn’t a basement.”
“Yes, there is.”
I stared at her.
“We played there our entire childhood.”
“There’s a door behind the wine shelves.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you seen it?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
My pulse increased.
“What was in there?”
“File cabinets.”
Samuel leaned closer.
“What kind?”
“I don’t know. But Dad got furious when he saw me.”
“What did he say?”
Melanie swallowed.
“He said I had found the place where our family keeps its dead people.”
Silence.
Wyatt stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“I thought he was joking.”
I did not.
Not anymore.
Hours later, officers executed a search warrant on the lake cabin.
They found the hidden basement room exactly where Melanie described it.
Inside were five locked filing cabinets.
Three computers.
Dozens of financial records.
And one shelf containing labeled boxes.
Arthur Bell.
Samuel Grayson.
Martin Monroe.
Sadie Monroe.
Melanie Monroe.
Even Wyatt.
But one box surprised everyone.
It was labeled VIVIAN.
My mother.
When investigators opened it, they found photographs.
Bank statements.
Copies of letters.
And a handwritten document dated eleven years earlier.
Samuel read the first page twice.
Then he called me.
“Sadie.”
“What?”
“We may have misunderstood who started this.”
My heart tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“The records suggest your father wasn’t stealing from the trust first.”
“Then who was?”
May you like
Samuel took a breath.
“Your mother.”
