Chapter 4: What Brad Was Protecting
“Give me your phone,” Mom said.
Dad slipped it into his pocket.
“The transfer was for your protection.”
“From whom?”
He pointed at Rose.
“From her.”
Rose placed both photographs on the hall table.
“I didn’t touch your money.”
“You came here demanding a name and a house,” Dad said.
“What do you call that?”
“The truth.”
Mom held out her hand.
“Return the money.”
“You’re recovering from surgery.
You’re not thinking clearly.”
Dr.
Patel stepped forward.
“She understood every instruction I gave her this morning.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re a surgeon, not a psychiatrist.”
“No,” Dr.
Patel said.
“But I know when a patient is being intimidated.”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
“This is a family matter.”
“I became involved when you asked me not to tell my patient what I found.”
Mom stared at him.
“You asked him to hide it?”
“I asked him to wait until you were stronger.”
“You removed my mirrors.”
“I didn’t want you searching for the scar.”
Rose reached for Mom, then stopped before touching her.
“June, our father left voting shares in Mercer Textiles to both of us.
Brad had already been moving company money into false supplier accounts.”
Dad laughed once.
“Your father blamed everyone except himself for that failing business.”
“You forged his name.”
“You can’t prove that after forty-six years.”
Mom gripped the stair rail.
“Why did you need me to be Rose?”
Rose answered before Dad could.
“Because my shares came with control of the family trust.
June had discovered the missing money, but Rose was the one who could remove him from the company.”
Mom’s knees bent.
I caught her before she reached the floor.
“Mom, look at me.”
She clutched my sleeve.
“He didn’t marry me.”
Dad moved toward us.
“Of course I married you.”
Rose’s voice broke.
“He married my name.
He needed your silence and my signature in the same woman.”
Mom made a small sound and folded against me.
Dr.
Patel knelt beside her.
“Slow breaths.
You’ve just had surgery.”
Dad crouched down.
“Rose, listen to me.”
Her head snapped up.
“Don’t call me that.”
The room went still.
“What should I call you?” he asked.
“You tell me.”
His mouth opened, but no name came out.
Rose removed her coat and draped it around Mom’s shoulders.
“I know I’m the last person you want near you.
I’m still not leaving you on this floor.”
Mom looked up at her.
“Why didn’t you come sooner?”
“I came three times.
Brad intercepted the first letter.
He returned the second.
After the third, a lawyer warned me that contacting you would be treated as harassment.”
Dad stood.
“You frightened her parents.
You frightened everyone.”
“Our parents believed you because you had a wife answering to my name.”
A knock sounded at the open door.
A courier held out a thick envelope.
“Delivery for Rose Bennett.”
Mom did not take it.
“My name may not be Rose Bennett.”
Dad signed for the envelope and handed it to her.
“You’ll want to read that.”
I tore it open for her.
Inside was a petition asking the court to place Mom’s finances under Brad’s temporary control.
Dr.
Patel read the attached page.
“This doctor claims she showed signs of cognitive decline six months ago.”
Mom looked at the signature.
“I’ve never met this man.”
Dad picked up the shoebox.
“The hearing is tomorrow morning.
Until then, the accounts stay under my control.”
He walked upstairs and locked the bedroom door.
May you like
At the bottom of the petition, another order had already been stamped.
It barred Rose and me from removing Mom from the house.
