Chapter 4 - My Sister Finally Broke
Mother slapped Prudence.
The sound cracked through the dining room.
Sarah gasped.
I stepped between them.
“What the hell?”
Mother pointed at Prudence.
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Prudence touched her cheek.
Something inside her changed.
Five years of arrogance disappeared.
“You always do this.”
Mother stared at her.
“Prudence.”
“You said Daniel would never find out.”
“Stop.”
“You said he wasn’t coming back!”
I grabbed Prudence’s arm.
“What did she do?”
Prudence looked terrified.
Then she told me.
Two years after I left, I had been injured at work.
Nothing life-threatening.
A steel beam had fallen nearby and fractured my wrist.
I had received compensation.
$74,000.
I had instructed the company to send $50,000 directly home.
For Sarah.
I remembered the email Mother sent afterward.
Sarah received it. She says thank you.
Sarah stared at me.
“I never knew.”
Prudence began crying.
“Mom used it to buy into a property development.”
Mother said nothing.
“What property?”
Prudence looked around.
“This one.”
I frowned.
“The mansion?”
“No.”
She pointed through the window.
“The land behind it.”
Michael stood.
“What land?”
Mother closed her eyes.
Prudence kept talking.
“She bought six acres under a company name. They’re building luxury townhouses.”
Michael immediately started typing.
Mother looked at me.
“I doubled your money.”
“You stole compensation from an injury and invested it?”
“For this family.”
“Stop saying that!”
Jamie appeared frightened.
I lowered my voice.
Mother straightened.
“You think sacrifice makes you special?”
I stared at her.
“I raised you after your father died. I worked two jobs. I gave you everything.”
“And that gave you permission to abuse my wife?”
“She took my son away.”
“No. I grew up.”
That landed harder than shouting.
Mother’s face changed.
I continued.
“You were so afraid Sarah would take me from you that you spent five years proving exactly why I needed to get away.”
Her eyes filled.
I didn’t stop.
“You could have lived comfortably. You could have been Jamie’s grandmother. You could have had Sunday dinners and birthdays and everything you claimed you wanted.”
I looked around the mansion.
“But you wanted control more.”
She whispered, “Daniel.”
“No.”
For once, I walked away from her.
The investigation took three weeks.
The forged deed was challenged.
Accounts were frozen.
The property company was investigated.
The mansion was legally returned to Sarah and me pending final proceedings.
But none of that fixed my marriage.
One evening, I found Sarah sitting on the back steps.
Not inside.
Outside.
As if she still didn’t believe the mansion belonged to her.
I sat beside her.
“Jamie’s asleep.”
She nodded.
“He likes having a real bed.”
That sentence hurt.
“Sarah.”
“Don’t.”
“I need to say it.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have known.”
“How?”
“I should have called you directly.”
“You tried.”
“I should have noticed.”
She looked at me.
“Daniel, your mother was good at lying.”
“I believed every word.”
“So did I.”
Silence.
Then Sarah said:
“I hated you.”
I nodded.
“You had every reason.”
“I would lie awake thinking about you with some other woman.”
“There was nobody.”
“I know that now.”
She looked toward the dark backyard.
“But five years happened.”
“Yes.”
“We don’t get them back.”
“No.”
She turned toward me.
“So don’t come home expecting the woman you left.”
“I don’t.”
“What do you expect?”
I thought carefully.
“A chance to meet the woman who survived.”
Sarah stared at me.
Then, for the first time since I returned, she smiled.
Barely.
May you like
But it was real.
And that tiny smile meant more to me than the entire mansion.
