Chapter 2: The Envelope on the White Tablecloth
I counted slowly.
Loud enough for everyone to hear.
"One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five."
Lance's hand shot up to his mouth.
Exactly like I said it would.
The relatives from Denver looked at each other.
Walter's smile began to fade.
Courtney gripped the edge of the table.
"Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten."
Walter pushed back his chair and stood up.
The room was completely still now.
Even the guitar trio had stopped playing.
Mindy tried to laugh it off.
"What is this?
Some kind of joke?"
I didn't look at her.
I kept my eyes on the clock.
"Eleven.
Twelve.
Thirteen."
Courtney reached for my arm.
"Brandon, please.
Stop."
I stepped back.
Just one step.
Calm.
Quiet.
"You had twelve years to stop this," I said.
"You had this afternoon.
You had the moment Paige started crying."
She had nothing to say to that.
"Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Seventeen."
Lance stood up now too.
His face had gone a color I had never seen on him before.
"Brandon, whatever you think you know—"
"I don't think anything, Lance." I reached into my jacket.
"I have the documents."
The envelope landed flat on the white tablecloth.
"Eighteen.
Nineteen."
Shirley's eyes locked onto it.
"Twenty."
She looked up at me, voice barely above a whisper.
"Is that true?"
And Walter — the man whose birthday we were all there to celebrate — slowly sat back down and covered his face with both hands.
---
What was inside that envelope — and why did Walter react that way?
The full truth is in the link below.
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Click to read the complete story.
It only gets more shocking from here.
