Chapter 8 - Rebecca's Expensive Little Secret
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Rebecca had always presented herself as the successful woman in the family.
She posted photographs from upscale restaurants.
Weekend trips to Charleston.
Designer handbags arranged beside champagne glasses.
Her social media pages made her life look like an endless series of celebrations.
Her event-planning business was supposedly thriving.
At Thanksgiving, she had announced that she was preparing to open a second location.
“Some people build careers,” she said while looking directly at me. “Others just work themselves to death.”
Evelyn laughed.
Walter called Rebecca ambitious.
Daniel said nothing.
Now I was staring at evidence that my unemployed husband had given his sister his entire severance payment.
I called Nora that afternoon.
“Can we find out whether Rebecca's company is actually doing well?”
“Public records can tell us some things,” she replied.
Together, we searched Virginia business filings and available court records.
R House Events was active.
But the picture wasn't pretty.
There was a dispute over unpaid commercial rent.
A former vendor had sued for outstanding invoices.
A collection action had been filed several months earlier.
Rebecca's glamorous business appeared to be drowning.
Then my phone rang.
It was Rebecca.
I almost ignored it.
Curiosity won.
“What do you want?”
She skipped any greeting.
“Daniel says you've been making accusations.”
“Did Daniel tell you what the accusations were?”
“Don't play games with me, Claire.”
I looked at the bruise reflected in my laptop screen.
“Would you like to apologize for hitting me?”
She laughed.
“You embarrassed me in front of the entire family.”
“You hit me.”
“Because you pushed me too far.”
I said nothing.
Then Rebecca changed tactics.
“Look, whatever problem you're having with Daniel, don't drag my business into it.”
My attention sharpened.
“I haven't mentioned your business.”
A pause.
“What?”
“I said I haven't mentioned it.”
She recovered quickly.
“Well, stay out of it.”
“Rebecca, did Daniel lend you money?”
Another pause.
Then her voice became sharp.
“That's between me and my brother.”
“Was it twenty-four thousand dollars?”
She inhaled.
For a moment, I heard only background noise.
Then she said something that changed the conversation.
“You should be grateful he helped me. We were trying to prevent something much worse.”
“We?”
Rebecca went silent.
“Who is we?”
“I have to go.”
The call disconnected.
I stared at my phone.
At first, I had assumed Daniel was simply helping his sister without telling me.
But Rebecca's words suggested something bigger.
Something shared.
Something they believed needed to remain hidden.
Ten minutes later, a message arrived from an unfamiliar number.
Stop asking about Rebecca's company.
There was no signature.
I showed it to Nora.
She read it twice.
Then she said, “Save that. Don't delete anything.”
May you like
And suddenly, the mystery wasn't just about where our money had gone.
It was about who else knew.
