Chapter 2: The Folder on the Table
Iris was screaming.
I was shaking.
And Diane just stood there, waiting for me to fold the way I always had.
Not this time.
"Lower your voice," I said.
Quiet.
Steady.
"You just frightened my daughter."
She blinked.
In thirty-two years, she had never heard that tone from me.
"Don't you dare speak to me like—"
"Sit down, Mom."
She didn't sit.
But she stopped moving.
I carried Iris to the bassinet, settled her as gently as I could, then walked to the kitchen drawer.
My hands weren't shaking anymore.
I pulled out a manila folder and set it on the table between us.
"What is that?" Diane asked.
"Ten years of bank transfers.
Every wire.
Every payment.
Every time I covered Rachel's rent, her cards, her car, her emergencies." I opened the first page.
"Eighty-three thousand dollars, Mom.
I added it up while I was in labor."
The color drained from her face.
"I also called a family lawyer last week.
Before you came here today." I tapped the folder.
"He had some very interesting things to say about the joint account you opened in my name six years ago.
The one I never signed for."
Diane's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Then my phone buzzed on the counter.
I turned it over.
It was Rachel.
And the first word of her message made my stomach go cold all over again...
---
What Rachel sent in that message changed everything Elena thought she knew.
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