Chapter 12 - The Email That Almost Changed Everything
Maya had not sent the message.
That was confirmed within an hour.
She had been in calculus when the email left her account at 10:16 a.m.
The login record showed it came from the Reed home Wi-Fi.
Vanessa had been home that morning.
Marcus sat beside Maya as she called the university.
Because Maya was the applicant, she spoke first.
“My stepmother accessed my email without my permission and sent a message suggesting I might withdraw.”
The admissions counselor was careful.
Professional.
Kind.
Most importantly, the counselor confirmed that no withdrawal had been processed.
Maya’s acceptance remained active.
After the call, Maya stared at her laptop.
“She really wanted me not to go.”
Marcus hated the certainty in her voice.
“We don’t know exactly what she wanted.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Maya—”
“She took the money. Told me not to tell you. Told me Michigan would hurt your business. Then emailed them pretending to be me.”
Marcus had no defense.
Maya stood.
“Why are you still trying to make it sound less bad?”
That question stopped him.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
She looked at him.
“You keep saying we need to understand why.”
“I do want to understand.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s been my wife for five years.”
“And my stepmother.”
“Yes.”
“So why do I have to be the one who understands her?”
Marcus said nothing.
Maya’s eyes filled.
“I spent three weeks thinking I was selfish because I got into the school I wanted.”
Her voice cracked.
“She watched me feel guilty.”
Marcus stood.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“But I built a house where you believed her instead of coming to me.”
Maya looked away.
“That part is mine.”
She slowly sat again.
Marcus continued.
“I worked all the time. I let Vanessa control financial conversations because I didn’t want them. I kept saying later about things that mattered.”
He thought of the will.
The company.
The girls.
“And somewhere along the way, you learned not to bring me problems unless they were already solved.”
Maya wiped her face.
“That’s kind of true.”
“I’m going to change that.”
“How?”
It was the right question.
Promises had filled that house already.
Marcus considered.
“I don’t know yet.”
Maya nodded.
For once, uncertainty sounded more trustworthy than certainty.
That evening, Brooke came home from work carrying a cardboard box.
“What’s that?” Maya asked.
“My birthday.”
Inside were unopened gifts from the party.
A watch.
Perfume.
Gift cards.
Brooke placed them on the table.
“I’m returning what I can.”
“You don’t have to,” Marcus said.
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because every time I look at anything from that day, I hear Mom saying you’d spend everything on Maya.”
Maya sat opposite her.
Brooke took out the final item.
The enormous red bow.
She had folded it badly.
“I couldn’t throw this away.”
“Why?” Maya asked.
Brooke ran a hand across the satin.
“Because I want to remember how easy it is to make something look generous.”
Marcus looked at her.
That was not something an eighteen-year-old should have needed to learn.
Brooke folded the bow again and placed it in the box.
The doorbell rang.
Vanessa stood outside.
Alone.
Marcus opened the door but did not invite her farther than the foyer.
“I need to talk to Maya.”
Maya appeared behind him.
“No.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Please.”
“You sent an email pretending to be me.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Marcus watched carefully.
She knew.
“I was buying time.”
Maya laughed in disbelief.
“From what?”
“From a decision nobody was ready to make.”
“It was my decision.”
“You’re seventeen.”
“My college is my decision.”
“You don’t understand what Michigan costs.”
“I understand what fifty-one thousand dollars looks like.”
Vanessa flinched.
Maya stepped closer.
“You didn’t protect Brooke.”
She pointed toward the stairs.
“You made me smaller so she could feel bigger.”
“That isn’t what I wanted.”
“But it’s what you did.”
Vanessa began crying.
Maya’s voice softened but did not weaken.
“I don’t want an apology yet.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I just needed you to know—”
“No.”
Maya shook her head.
“You don’t get to decide what I need anymore.”
Vanessa left.
Marcus closed the door.
Then Maya turned toward him.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“I want to go to Michigan.”
Marcus smiled through tears.
“Then we’re getting you to Michigan.”
Upstairs, Brooke opened the cardboard box again.
She pulled out the red bow.
Beneath it was a small white envelope she had never seen before.
Her name was written on the front in Vanessa’s handwriting.
Inside was a copy of a bank statement.
The Savannah account.
And beneath the balance, Vanessa had written:
For Brooke if everything goes wrong.
Brooke stared at it.
At the bottom of the page was a second account number.
One Marcus had never seen.
May you like
Balance:
$146,880.
