Chapter 2: The Secret My Sister Kept
Part 2 ⬇️
I sat in my car, shaking.
The gift box was still in my hands.
Five years.
Five years of thinking I was loved.
I couldn't go back inside.
I couldn't face him.
Not yet.
So I called my sister, Dana.
"He said he's been planning something since high school," I whispered.
"Dana…
what does that even mean?"
There was a long pause on the other end.
Then she said something that stopped my heart cold.
"I need to tell you something.
I've been holding onto this for a long time and I didn't know how to say it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Before you and Matthew got together…
his mother came to see Mom.
She offered our family money.
A lot of money.
She said Matthew needed to marry you — that there was something in your family he needed access to."
I couldn't breathe.
"Dana.
Why didn't you tell me?"
"We thought it fell through.
Matthew seemed to genuinely love you.
Mom told me to forget it ever happened."
I looked up at our front door.
The lights inside were still on.
Matthew was still in there, still on the phone, still laughing.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
May you like
It said: *"He's not alone in there.
Ask him who owns the account in your name."*
