Chapter 6: The Voice He Never Meant Us to Hear
Nicole showed the message to Maya.
“He’s been saying that for months.”
“Have there been other threats?” Maya asked.
Nicole unlocked a hidden folder on her phone.
“Hundreds.”
I stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because the first attorney I called was Aaron’s friend.
He told Aaron before I got home.”
Dad pulled out a chair for her.
“Show Agent Chen everything.”
Nicole opened voice messages, photographs of financial statements, and copies of emails.
One file carried yesterday’s date.
“Aaron doesn’t know I recorded this,” she said.
She pressed play.
Aaron’s voice came through the speaker.
“You gave me Paige’s records.
You signed the mortgage papers.
If the fund collapses, you go down first.”
Nicole’s recorded voice answered, “You forged her signature.”
“I built a signature she couldn’t deny.”
Mom began to cry.
Maya raised the volume.
“And the recording?” Nicole asked in the file.
“I took words from three calls.
Paige says too much when she’s tired.”
My hand closed around Dad’s.
“You knew he had altered it?” I asked Nicole.
“I suspected it.
Last night I made him admit it.”
“Why come to Hawaii?”
“He ordered me to bring the children.
I left them with his mother and came alone.”
“You screamed at me over the canceled tickets.”
Nicole lowered her head.
“He was beside me.
I wanted him to think I still blamed you.”
A sharp knock sounded against the glass doors.
Aaron stood outside with Elliot and two hotel security officers behind him.
“You stole my phone backup!” he shouted.
Nicole rose.
“It’s my phone.”
Aaron pushed through the doors before security could stop him.
“Delete the recording.”
“No.”
He reached for her phone.
I stepped between them.
“Don’t touch her.”
He stared down at me.
“You’re protecting her now?”
“I’m protecting the evidence.”
“You’re both fools.
That recording proves Nicole participated.”
Nicole’s hand trembled, but she held the phone against her chest.
“Then I’ll answer for what I did.”
“You’ll lose your children.”
“I may lose their trust if I keep lying.
That frightens me more.”
Aaron turned toward me.
“She spent the money, Paige.
Her mortgage, her new car, the private school—you think she didn’t know?”
Nicole removed her wedding ring and placed it on the desk.
“I knew some of it was wrong.
I did not know he had used your diagnosis, but I stopped asking because I liked the life it paid for.”
The painful truth left no place to hide.
I swallowed hard.
“You let me believe nobody had helped me.”
“I did.”
“You watched me sell my car to pay bills.”
“I did.”
My voice broke.
“I needed a sister.”
Nicole’s tears fell onto the phone.
“And I chose comfort over you.”
She reached toward me, then stopped before touching my hand.
I closed the distance and held her fingers—not as forgiveness, but to keep us both standing.
Maya took possession of the phone.
“The recording has already uploaded to our secure system.”
Aaron rushed toward the desk.
Daniel blocked him and guided him back.
Elliot grabbed Aaron’s shoulder.
“Do not say another word.”
Aaron shook him off.
“I’m paying you to fix this.”
“I’m your attorney, not your cleaner.”
Maya’s phone rang.
She listened, then looked at Mom.
“Our analysts traced the inflated treatment invoices.
Paige paid the hospital herself, but the charity claimed it paid two hundred and ten thousand dollars on her behalf.”
Mom wiped her face.
“Where did that money go?”
Maya set down a second report.
“Thirty thousand went to the Carter mortgage.
The authorization carries Nicole’s signature.”
Nicole’s face emptied.
“The remaining one hundred and eighty thousand,” Maya continued, “was approved from Helen’s account.”
May you like
Dad released Mom’s hand.
This time, Mom did not deny it.
