Chapter 3: Someone Else's Words
I didn't sleep well that night.
I kept coming back to that hesitation in Karen's voice.
*What group chat?* Not defensive.
Not covering.
Genuinely confused.
Karen had shown me that chat herself.
She had held the phone out and watched my face while I read it.
She had smiled when I got to my dad's message.
But she hadn't written it.
Which meant she had shown me something without knowing everything that was in it.
My phone was on the kitchen counter.
I picked it up and scrolled back through the screenshots I had taken of the chat before Karen pulled the phone away.
There were eleven messages.
Most of them were from aunts and cousins reacting to Mia's version of events.
Sympathy.
Outrage on Mia's behalf.
A few calling me selfish.
And then my dad's message, near the bottom.
*If Thomas wants to act like this, maybe he doesn't deserve to be part of this family.*
I had read it as his voice.
His words.
His verdict.
But I looked at the timestamp now.
11:47 p.m.
My dad went to bed at nine-thirty every night without fail.
Had done it my entire life.
He had a bad back and took medication that knocked him out by ten at the latest.
11:47 p.m.
I set the phone down.
The next morning I called my dad directly.
Not Karen's number.
His cell, the one he rarely used and barely knew how to operate.
He picked up on the fourth ring.
"Thomas." His voice was thick.
Morning voice.
He'd just woken up.
"Dad, I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest with me."
"What is it?"
"Did you write a message in a family group chat about me?
A message saying I didn't deserve to be part of this family?"
A long pause.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"There's a group chat.
Family members.
Mia told everyone her version of what happened between us.
And there was a message from your account.
I saw it."
"Thomas, I don't have a group chat.
I barely know how to use that phone.
Karen set it up for me."
My hand tightened around my own phone.
"Karen set up your phone."
"She put all the contacts in.
Set up the apps.
I just use it to call people."
"Dad." I kept my voice steady.
"Does Karen know your passcode?"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"She set that too," he said quietly.
I didn't say anything for a moment.
"Dad, I need you to do something for me.
I need you to ask Karen to show you that group chat.
Don't tell her I called.
Just ask her to show you what's been said about me."
"Thomas, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure yet.
But I think someone has been putting words in your mouth."
He went silent.
I could hear him breathing.
"I'll call you back," he said.
He hung up.
I stood in my empty living room — still empty, still stripped — and looked at the bare wall where the TV stand used to be.
Karen had set up my dad's phone.
Karen knew his passcode.
Karen had access to his accounts.
And Karen had shown me that message with a smile on her face, watching to see if it would break me.
My lawyer's name was Sandra.
I had her number saved.
I called her before I left for work.
"I have a new development," I said when she picked up.
"Tell me."
"I think my stepmother may have sent a message from my father's phone.
Impersonating him in a family group chat.
Saying I didn't deserve to be part of the family."
A brief silence on Sandra's end.
"Does your father know his account was used?"
"He says he didn't write it.
He says Karen set up his phone and knows his passcode."
"Can you get a screenshot of the message with the timestamp?"
"Already have it."
"Good," Sandra said.
"Keep it.
And Thomas — don't confront Karen yet.
Let her think you don't know."
I looked at the bare floor.
"Understood."
"One more thing," Sandra said.
"Has your father ever given Karen any financial authority?
Joint accounts, power of attorney, anything like that?"
The question landed somewhere cold in my chest.
May you like
"I don't know," I said.
"But I think I need to find out."
