Chapter 4 - THE FAMILY PROMISE NOBODY KEPT
“Three million two hundred thousand dollars.”
Daniel read the figure aloud.
Nobody answered.
He looked at Richard.
“Tell me that isn't the workers' reserve.”
Richard loosened his collar.
“The transfer was temporary.”
“Temporary?”
“The property transaction would have returned the money with interest.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You used money set aside for retired employees to finance a land sale that would displace them.”
“That's an unfair characterization.”
“Then give me a fair one.”
Richard looked toward Caroline.
She was staring at the floor.
For the first time in my life, I saw my uncle without the protection of his expensive suits, polished manners, and intimidating voice.
He looked like a man who had run out of places to hide.
But he still wasn't ready to surrender.
“The account was administered through Bennett Family Holdings,” he said. “Lydia approved the transfer.”
I felt my stomach drop.
Aunt Lydia.
My mother's older sister.
The woman who owned the estate.
The woman who used to let me sleep in her room when thunderstorms frightened me as a little girl.
Daniel frowned.
“Lydia knew?”
Richard gave a bitter laugh.
“Perhaps you should ask her.”
Evelyn tried to stand.
Daniel stopped her.
“Mom, you're hurt.”
“Then find your aunt, Mia.”
“I will.”
Richard moved toward the door.
“You're not involving my wife in this.”
I looked at him.
“Why? Because she's the only person who might tell the truth?”
He pointed at me.
“You should remember what position you're in.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“She's the person who caught my mother when your daughter pushed her down the stairs.”
Caroline looked up sharply.
“I didn't mean for her to fall.”
The words hung in the room.
She seemed to realize what she'd admitted.
“I was upset,” she continued. “She came too close to my dress. I pushed her away. I didn't know she'd lose her balance.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You put your hands on a seventy-year-old woman because of a dress?”
Caroline's face crumpled.
“It wasn't like that.”
But no explanation followed.
Daniel looked at the bruises beginning to show around my wrist.
“And Mia?”
Caroline couldn't meet his eyes.
I didn't feel victorious.
I felt exhausted.
“Please,” I said. “Just let me find Aunt Lydia.”
Daniel called the estate's on-site medical provider, who had been scheduled for the reception, and asked her to examine Evelyn.
Then he told Grant to remain with Richard.
Grant looked uncertain.
Richard immediately protested.
“He works for me.”
Daniel didn't raise his voice.
“Then he can explain to you why nobody should be altering security records.”
Grant's face changed.
I noticed.
So did Richard.
Daniel turned to me.
“I'll come with you.”
We found Aunt Lydia in the small sitting room beside the upstairs library.
She wore a pale green dress and was fastening a necklace with trembling fingers.
At sixty-two, she'd become noticeably thinner over the last year.
I'd assumed it was stress from planning Caroline's wedding.
Now I wondered what else had been keeping her awake.
“Mia?” she said. “What's happened to your wrist?”
I sat beside her.
“Aunt Lydia, I need to ask you something.”
Her eyes moved to Daniel.
Then to my face.
She seemed to understand that something terrible had happened.
“Richard told us you authorized money from the Riverside Workers Benefit Fund.”
Her fingers stopped moving.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she removed her necklace.
“He told me it was a bridge investment.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What kind of investment?”
“One that would keep the medical center open while the company reorganized. He said the reserve would be replenished after the land transaction.”
My aunt's voice trembled.
“I asked whether the cottages were protected. He said there would be no change to the residents' arrangements.”
“Did you read the transfer instructions?” Daniel asked.
She looked ashamed.
“Some of them.”
“Did you read the development contract?”
“No.”
The answer was so quiet I almost didn't hear it.
I took her hand.
“Aunt Lydia, Mom used to talk about Riverside all the time. You knew what that place meant to her.”
Her eyes filled.
“Rose used to say the factory wasn't just machinery. It was the people who had given their lives to it.”
“Then why did you sign?”
She looked toward the window.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Losing this house. Losing my husband. Watching Caroline discover that everything she'd grown up believing about our family was falling apart.”
I swallowed.
“And you let Richard tell me I should be grateful just to live here?”
She closed her eyes.
That was answer enough.
For eleven months, I'd cleaned rooms in a house where my aunt knew I was being treated as an embarrassment.
She'd seen Caroline dismiss me in front of guests.
She'd heard Richard call my job charity.
And she'd remained silent.
“I thought keeping you employed was helping,” she whispered.
“You could have helped by treating me like family.”
She began to cry.
But before she could answer, Daniel's phone vibrated.
It was the estate's medical provider.
Evelyn's ankle was badly sprained, and the cut on her temple needed proper attention. Daniel arranged transportation for further evaluation.
Then the provider added something that made his expression change.
“Your mother wants Mia to look at the brass key.”
I pulled it from beneath my cuff.
A small letter and number were stamped into the metal.
R-4.
Aunt Lydia saw it.
Her face became completely white.
“Where did you get that?”
“Nell gave it to me.”
“Evelyn,” Daniel corrected gently.
But Aunt Lydia barely heard him.
She reached toward the key, then stopped herself.
“Rose had one exactly like that.”
My heart began pounding.
“What does it open?”
My aunt looked toward the dark window.
“The old records cabinet at Riverside Works. Your mother kept duplicate entries there whenever the fund made a payment.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Are those records still there?”
“I don't know.”
“Who has access?”
She hesitated.
“Richard asked me about that cabinet last week.”
I looked down at the key.
Aunt Lydia started shaking.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“Mia, if that cabinet is still intact, you're going to find my name in it.”
I waited.
She looked straight into my eyes.
“And I need you to understand something before you open it.”
Her voice broke.
“Your mother didn't trust Richard with that money.”
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Then she whispered:
“Toward the end, she wasn't sure she could trust me, either.”
