Chapter 6 - The Email From Her Own Address.
Emily did not sleep.
At eleven fifteen, she sat at the kitchen island with her laptop open, Michael's phone beside it, and a legal pad filling with dates, amounts, and names.
Michael had moved to the living room after Emily told him not to come near her.
Evelyn had refused to leave.
For once, Emily did not care.
She wanted witnesses.
Darren Pike forwarded the email he claimed had authorized the collateral.
It had been sent from Emily's personal account four months earlier at 2:17 a.m.
The message was short.
I approve the use of my trust interest for Cedar Ridge and authorize Michael Carter to execute related documents on my behalf.
Emily stared at the words.
She had not written them.
The signature block beneath the message included her full name, phone number, and home address.
Michael stood across the room with his arms folded.
"You used my email."
"I didn't."
"Then who did?"
"I don't know."
"You knew the message existed."
His silence answered her.
Emily clicked through her account security history.
A login from four months earlier appeared at 2:12 a.m.
The device was listed as an unfamiliar Windows laptop.
The location was only approximate, but the city was Boston.
On that date, Michael had told Emily he was attending a late vendor dinner downtown.
She checked her calendar.
It had been a Thursday.
"Where were you that night?"
Michael shook his head.
"I don't remember."
"You remember every Thursday well enough to lie about them."
Evelyn sat at the far end of the island.
"Check the hotel records."
Michael snapped toward her.
"Would you stop helping?"
Evelyn's expression did not change.
"I'm done helping you."
Emily searched the recovered messages.
There it was.
Lauren had sent Michael a hotel address that Thursday.
Westbridge.
Again.
Emily opened the hotel's loyalty app on Michael's phone.
A stay appeared under his account.
One night.
Room 602.
She felt nausea rise in her throat.
"You were at the Westbridge when my email was accessed."
Michael leaned forward.
"That doesn't mean I accessed it."
"Was Lauren with you?"
He looked away.
Emily dialed Lauren.
This time her sister did not answer.
Emily called again.
Voicemail.
A third call went unanswered.
Emily opened the family location-sharing app they had all used for years.
Lauren's location was unavailable.
"She turned off her phone."
Michael immediately checked his own messages.
Emily saw the panic.
"What are you expecting her to do?"
"Nothing."
"Then why are you scared?"
Michael walked toward the front door.
Emily moved in front of him.
"Where are you going?"
"To talk to Lauren."
"No."
"You don't control where I go."
"You're right."
Emily stepped aside.
"But if you walk out to coordinate stories with her, I call the bank before you reach the driveway."
Michael stopped.
His face hardened.
"You think you're the only person who can get hurt here?"
Emily stared at him.
"Was that supposed to scare me?"
"No."
"It sounded like a threat."
"I meant financially."
"Then choose your words better."
Evelyn stood.
"Sit down, Michael."
He looked at his mother with disbelief.
"Now you're taking her side?"
"I'm taking the side of the person whose name you used."
Michael returned to the living room but did not sit.
Emily took screenshots of the suspicious login and exported the account history.
She changed her email password and enabled two-factor authentication.
Then she checked the recovery email attached to the account.
Her stomach dropped.
The backup address was not hers.
It was an old Gmail account she recognized from years ago.
Lauren's.
Emily turned the screen toward Michael.
"How did Lauren become my recovery email?"
Michael stared at it.
"I don't know."
For the first time, Emily believed that he might actually be telling the truth.
That possibility made things worse, not better.
It meant Lauren had been inside Emily's digital life separately from Michael.
Emily opened the account activity page and found another clue.
The recovery address had been changed nine months earlier.
Nine months.
Long before Michael claimed Lauren came to him with debt problems.
"She was planning something before Cedar Ridge."
Evelyn leaned closer.
"What?"
"I don't know yet."
At 12:04 a.m., an email arrived from an unfamiliar address.
The subject line contained only Emily's first name.
Inside was a single sentence.
You should ask Lauren what she tried to sell before she went to Michael.
There was an attachment.
A photograph showed a manila folder on a conference table.
Across the top, in block letters, were the words CARTER FAMILY TRUST - PROPOSED ASSIGNMENT.
Emily looked at the timestamp embedded in the photo.
It had been taken ten months earlier.
Before Cedar Ridge existed.
Before the Thursday meetings.
May you like
Before Michael claimed any of this had begun.
THE THURSDAY CALL
