Chương 7
Maybe love once.
It was impossible to tell anymore.
She turned toward Jared.
"Come on."
He leaned back into the sofa.
"No."
Her expression changed again.
Not pain.
Offense.
"You need me."
Jared looked at the floor.
"For what?"
"Your tax problem."
"You just told Naomi you can't help me."
"That's different."
"How?"
She did not answer quickly enough.
He looked up.
"Is the restaurant in one of these companies?"
Dad inhaled sharply.
Mom's face stayed still.
Jared stood.
"Is it?"
Dad said, "Partly."
Jared swore.
"What does that mean?"
"You didn't own one hundred percent of the entity that owns the restaurant."
"I signed everything."
"Not everything."
Jared took two steps toward Dad.
"You told me it was mine."
"It is operationally yours."
"Operationally."
He repeated the word like it tasted bad.
"I have personally guaranteed loans on that place."
Dad looked sick.
"I know."
"So who owns it?"
Mom stepped in.
"We structured it for tax reasons."
Jared turned toward her.
"What reasons?"
"Protection."
"From me?"
"From creditors."
"My creditors?"
"Potentially."
He stared at her.
"So when I thought you were investing in the restaurant, you were moving my own trust money into a company I don't control?"
"It is not that simple."
"Every time you say that, it turns out to be worse."
She crossed her arms.
"Fine."
Her voice became cold.
"You want simple?"
"Please."
"You would have lost every dollar your grandfather left you by the time you were thirty."
Jared flinched.
She kept going.
"You failed out of your first business program."
"I changed majors."
"You spent eighteen thousand dollars in six months after college."
"I was twenty-two."
"You leased a car you couldn't afford."
"I know."
"You opened a bar with a man who stole from you."
Jared's face reddened.
"And you came to us every single time."
He stared at her.
"You made sure I had to."
"No."
"Maybe not at first."
He nodded slowly.
"But after a while?"
Mom said nothing.
Dad whispered, "Jared."
He ignored him.
"You kept telling me I couldn't survive without you."
"You couldn't."
"Maybe because every time I got close, you moved the ground."
That landed differently.
Mom's eyes flickered.
Jared laughed bitterly.
"I thought Naomi was the favorite."
I almost spoke.
He shook his head.
"No, seriously."
He looked at me.
"You were the good one."
"I was the useful one."
He gave a humorless smile.
"Turns out we both were."
My mother reached for the doorknob.
"This is ridiculous."
I said, "Did you forge my signatures personally?"
She stopped.
Dad looked at her.
Jared went silent.
She turned around slowly.
"You need an attorney before you start accusing people."
"I have one."
That wasn't entirely true yet.
Johnny's attorney represented the estate.
But I had called him that morning and left a message.
My mother didn't know that distinction.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
I said nothing.
"Naomi."
"No."
"What firm?"
"No."
Her expression hardened.
"This is still a family matter."
I looked at her.
"You made it a financial matter nineteen years ago."
She took a breath.
"You have no idea what you are doing."
"Probably not."
That seemed to surprise her more than defiance.
I was too tired to pretend competence.
"I don't know how trusts work."
I held up the folder.
"I barely understand half of this."
Dad looked at me.
"But I know my signature."
No one spoke.
"And I know I never authorized you to use it."
Mom's face remained still.
"And I know Johnny was worried enough to hire investigators without telling me."
My voice broke on his name.
I hated that.
I continued anyway.
"And I know you knew about his life insurance before I told you."
Dad's head turned sharply toward her.
That reaction told me something new.
He hadn't known she knew.
Mom's composure finally slipped.
Only for a second.
Dad stood.
"Susan."
She looked at him.
"How did you know?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"How did you know about the policy?"
She reached for the door again.
Dad stepped between her and it.
Not threatening.
Just blocking the exit.
She stared at him as if he had struck her.
"Move."
"Answer her."
"Richard."
"Answer her."
Jared's eyes moved between them.
I felt my pulse in my throat.
Mom folded her arms.
"Johnny mentioned it."
I stared at her.
"When?"
She hesitated.
"Months ago."
"Why?"
"He was updating documents."
"Why would Johnny discuss his life insurance with you?"
"He asked about estate planning."
Dad laughed softly.
"No, he didn't."
She turned toward him.
"You weren't there."
"I was."
Mom went still.
Dad's voice dropped.
"He came to the office in January."
He looked at me.
"He didn't ask about estate planning."
He looked back at her.
"He accused us of fraud."
The room felt suddenly smaller.
Mom said, "That conversation has nothing to do with the policy."
Dad shook his head.
"You told him if he kept digging, Naomi would lose everything."
My stomach tightened.
Jared whispered, "What?"
Mom said, "I was angry."
Dad continued.
"He told you she had enough outside the family to be fine."
Mom's face drained.
I understood before he said it.
Dad looked at me.
"Johnny mentioned the insurance because she threatened your inheritance."
My mother's eyes closed.
There it was.
A path.
Not proof.
Not yet.
But a reason she knew.
I thought of the accident.
The wet road.
The police officer at Claire's door.
A truck crossing the center line.
A crash investigators had described as immediate and unsurvivable.
My mind moved somewhere terrible.
I stopped it.
Not everything connected.
Grief made monsters out of gaps.
I would not do that to myself.
Dad seemed to see where my thoughts had gone.
"No."
His voice was immediate.
"Naomi, no."
I looked at him.
"The accident had nothing to do with us."
Mom turned on him.
"Oh, for God's sake."
Dad ignored her.
"I swear to you."
Jared went pale.
May you like
"What are we even saying right now?"
"We're not saying anything."
