Chapter 11 - Rebecca
Rebecca arrived before anyone found her.
At 7:10 the following morning, a black sedan stopped outside the villa.
Emma watched from the upstairs window.
A woman stepped out.
Seventy years old.
Silver-blonde hair.
Cream coat.
Dark sunglasses.
She looked nothing like the reckless aunt Emma remembered.
Yet Emma knew instantly.
Margaret appeared behind her.
When she saw Rebecca, she gripped the curtain.
"No."
Emma looked at her.
"You don't have to see her."
Margaret surprised her.
"Yes, I do."
Rebecca entered under police supervision.
Ortiz searched her bag.
Nothing dangerous.
They sat in the drawing room.
For several seconds, the sisters stared at each other.
Rebecca finally removed her sunglasses.
Margaret slapped her.
Emma flinched.
Nobody stopped her.
Rebecca touched her cheek.
"I deserved that."
Margaret's voice shook.
"You called me after Daniel died."
"I know."
"You disappeared."
"I know."
"You let me spend fourteen years wondering."
Rebecca began crying.
Margaret did not soften.
"Why?"
Rebecca looked toward Emma and Brandon.
"Because Daniel made me."
Emma stared.
"No more sentences beginning with Dad made me."
Rebecca nodded.
"Fair."
She opened her coat and removed a small notebook.
"Daniel wasn't part of Hearthline."
Emma looked at Ortiz.
Rebecca continued.
"He was collecting evidence against it."
"Sarah too?"
"Sarah started it."
Rebecca explained.
Hearthline's fraud extended far beyond bad property deals.
The group identified elderly homeowners and distressed families.
They manipulated debts.
Forged documents.
Transferred titles.
When victims resisted, inspectors condemned properties or lenders suddenly called loans.
Some people were financially destroyed.
Others disappeared.
Sarah Vale discovered the internal accounting.
She wanted out.
Daniel helped her.
Rebecca joined later.
"And the money?" Emma asked.
Rebecca's face tightened.
"That was stolen from Elias."
Margaret whispered, "Daniel told me it wasn't his."
"It wasn't."
Rebecca looked at Emma.
"It belonged to victims."
Daniel and Sarah had secretly recovered funds from one of Hearthline's offshore channels.
They planned to return the money.
Then Sarah disappeared.
Daniel panicked.
He hid the remaining amount.
"What about you?" Emma asked.
Rebecca looked down.
"I betrayed them."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Emma remembered the scratched photograph.
"How?"
"They caught me."
Rebecca's voice cracked.
"I told Peter where Sarah planned to meet Daniel."
Silence.
Emma felt sick.
"Did that get her killed?"
"I don't know."
"You disappeared afterward."
"I ran."
Margaret stared at her sister.
"You left Daniel behind."
"Yes."
"And he died."
Rebecca looked at her.
"I know."
Margaret stood.
"Get out."
Rebecca did not move.
"I came because Elias found me."
Emma stepped closer.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
"What does he want?"
"The ledger."
Emma looked at Ortiz.
"He knows we found it."
Rebecca nodded.
"And something else."
"What?"
"Sarah's key."
Emma frowned.
"What key?"
Rebecca looked directly at Margaret.
"Daniel gave it to you."
Margaret shook her head.
"No."
"He did."
"I never had a key."
Rebecca leaned forward.
"He said you would never realize what it opened."
Margaret looked confused.
Then her hand moved unconsciously toward the necklace beneath her blouse.
Emma saw it.
A thin silver chain.
Margaret had worn it for decades.
At the end was a tiny metal pendant shaped like a house.
Rebecca stared.
"Margaret."
May you like
Slowly, Margaret lifted the pendant.
Rebecca whispered, "That's not a pendant."
