Chapter 5 - What My Mother Meant
My mother asked to see me the following morning.
I refused.
Then she asked again.
I refused again.
By noon, she sent Ryan seven messages.
He showed me only because I insisted.
Please let me explain.
You don’t understand what Vanessa has been going through.
This was never supposed to happen.
We only wanted to stop the trust.
Stop the trust.
Those three words stayed in my head.
I handed Ryan his phone.
“Call Detective Greene.”
My mother’s messages became evidence.
Two hours later, Dr. Shaw told me the contractions had slowed.
If everything remained stable, I could possibly go home the next day.
“You’ll need rest.”
She spoke carefully.
“No stressful confrontations.”
Ryan almost smiled.
“We can manage that.”
For the first time since the attack, I believed we might actually leave the hospital with our future intact.
Then Detective Greene arrived.
She had spent the morning interviewing my parents separately.
“My mother wrote the note.”
“Yes.”
“What did she mean?”
“She claims she was referring to challenging the trust legally.”
Ryan folded his arms.
“Do you believe her?”
“I don’t make decisions based on belief.”
“What do the facts say?”
Greene opened her notebook.
“Your mother and father have significant financial problems.”
I stared at her.
“My parents?”
“Approximately six hundred thousand dollars in debt.”
I could not process it.
My father had always acted financially comfortable.
He owned a consulting business.
They traveled twice a year.
Their home was nearly paid off.
Apparently, none of that was true anymore.
Detective Greene continued.
“Your father’s company has been losing money for several years.”
“Why didn’t they tell me?”
“That’s something you’ll have to ask them.”
Ryan’s face remained expressionless.
“And Vanessa?”
“She owes roughly ninety thousand dollars.”
I knew Vanessa had expensive habits.
I had no idea how severe they were.
“Credit cards?”
“Some.”
Greene paused.
“Most of it is private debt.”
“What kind?”
“We’re still investigating.”
A knock interrupted us.
A nurse entered with flowers.
“No sender name.”
Ryan immediately said, “Take them out.”
The nurse looked surprised.
Detective Greene stepped toward the arrangement.
A white envelope was tucked between the flowers.
She pulled on gloves.
Inside was a card.
There were no signatures.
Only six words.
“You should have taken the warning.”
Ryan’s face changed.
Detective Greene photographed everything.
“What warning?”
“I don’t know.”
I genuinely didn’t.
Then I remembered something.
Three weeks earlier, a car had followed me from my obstetrician’s office.
I had noticed it for several turns.
A black SUV.
I assumed coincidence.
A week later, someone had left a printed copy of the trust announcement beneath my windshield wiper.
I had thrown it away.
At the time, it seemed strange.
Not dangerous.
Now Detective Greene stared at me.
“You need to tell me everything.”
So I did.
When I finished, she closed her notebook.
“This may be larger than a family argument.”
Ryan looked at her.
“How much larger?”
May you like
Greene glanced toward the flowers being removed from the room.
“Large enough that I don’t want either of you going home without protection.”
