Chapter 15 - The Golden Child’s Demands
At eight-forty-five, the heavy roar of a Mercedes SUV engine signaled Melissa’s arrival. The vehicle pulled into my driveway with careless speed, tires screeching against the wet asphalt, before slamming to a halt behind my sedan.
The front door slammed shut, followed by the aggressive, hurried clack of high heels marching up the front walkway.
"Dad," I said calmly, stepping out of the study. "Take Lily up to the playroom. Keep the doors closed and turn on some music."
Dad nodded, his face tightening. "Nora, be careful. She’s like a cornered animal when she thinks she’s losing control."
"I have the lockbox, Dad," I replied evenly. "She’s the one who needs to be careful."
As Dad led Lily up the stairs, the heavy brass knocker on my front door struck with deafening ferocity. *Bang. Bang. Bang.*
"Nora! Open this door right now!" Melissa’s voice shrieked through the oak wood. "I know he’s in there! Open the damn door!"
I walked slowly down the hall, smoothed the fabric of my linen trousers, and unlocked the deadbolt. I pulled the door open, keeping the heavy brass chain firmly in its slot.
Melissa stood on the porch, her designer coat disheveled, her mascara smudged beneath bloodshot eyes. She looked like a woman who hadn't slept a second, her face pale and pinched with desperate fury.
"Unlatch the chain, Nora!" she demanded, lunging forward with her hands gripping the doorframe. "Where is Dad? Where is he?"
"He’s upstairs, Melissa," I answered in a measured, icy tone. "Where he is safe from Mom and her fireplace poker."
Melissa flinched, her eyes darting away for a split second before snapping back with toxic venom. "He doesn't know what he's talking about! He’s having a nervous breakdown! Mom didn't hit him, he fell! He took private family documents from Mom’s closet, Nora. He has no right to them, and neither do you. Hand over the metal box, and we can forget this happened."
"Private family documents?" I repeated, leaning against the doorframe. "Is that what you call the escrow papers from Horizon Title, Melissa?"
Every drop of color instantly drained from Melissa’s face. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. The furious, haughty glare vanished, replaced by a sudden, sickening glaze of pure terror.
"You... you opened it?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
"I read every single line," I replied. "The forged signatures. The seventy-five thousand dollars stolen from Lily’s college fund. The hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars you used to buy the house you brag about at the country club every weekend. The house where you told my daughter that her father’s heirloom lace was worthless trash."
"Nora, listen to me," Melissa stammered, stepping closer, her hands shaking as she reached through the narrow gap between the door and the frame. "You don't understand the whole story! Mom told me you agreed! She told me you wanted us to have that money while you were sick, so the family stayed together! Greg was drowning, Nora! We would have lost everything!"
"You didn't lose everything," I said, looking directly into her frantic, hollow eyes. "You stole everything. From a three-year-old orphan who had just lost her father."
"It was a loan!" she screamed, her voice hitting a shrill, hysterical pitch that echoed across the quiet neighborhood. "We were going to pay it back! Mom said we could handle it later! Nora, please, think of Carter and Mason! If you do anything with those papers, you'll ruin my boys' lives! They’re your nephews!"
"When Carter and Mason ground motor oil into David’s mother's lace two days ago," I said, my voice dropping to a whisper that cut deeper than any scream, "you told me to teach my daughter how to take a joke. You told everyone to laugh at her tears. Well, Melissa... nobody is laughing today."
"You selfish bitch!" Melissa roared, slamming her fists against the door. "You think you’re so righteous because David died and left you with millions! You always thought you were better than me! Mom always knew what you were! Give me the box, Nora, or I swear to God—"
The sound of another car door slamming in the driveway cut her off.
We both turned our heads.
May you like
A sleek silver sedan had just parked behind Melissa’s Mercedes. Out stepped Evelyn Vance, clad in her pristine beige trench coat, her silver hair perfectly coiffed, carrying a leather purse like a weapon.
***
