Chapter 7 - Melissa’s Offer
The next morning, James returned to the house on Hawthorne Lane wearing a recording device beneath his shirt.
Detective Ortiz and two officers waited inside an unmarked vehicle down the street.
Melissa had agreed to meet him alone.
When she entered the living room, she looked as though she had not slept. Her hair was tied back, and the gray sweater from the previous night had been replaced by a dark coat.
“Where is Sarah?” she asked.
“Safe.”
“With Ethan?”
James did not answer.
Melissa looked around the room.
“You searched my office.”
“The police searched it.”
“They had no right.”
“They found forged documents.”
“My mother created those.”
“They found the prepaid phone.”
Melissa’s jaw tightened.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Decide who is guilty before you understand anything.”
“I watched you leave Sarah outside a clinic.”
“I thought Doctor Lyle was coming for her.”
“You watched her get out of the car.”
“My mother said I would make things worse if I followed.”
“Why did you listen?”
Melissa walked to the window.
“Because she has controlled me my entire life.”
“You are thirty-five years old.”
“You don’t know what she has.”
“Then tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
Melissa turned.
“No, James. I truly can’t.”
He thought of Margaret’s statement that Melissa’s original identity had been changed.
“Is Melissa your real name?”
Her face revealed the answer before she spoke.
“Who told you?”
“Anna.”
“Anna is dead.”
“She left records.”
Melissa took a step backward.
“What records?”
“Tell me your real name.”
“Where are the records?”
“Tell me why you helped your mother.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Sarah heard you discussing the trust.”
Melissa closed her eyes.
For one moment, she seemed exhausted rather than calculating.
“When Anna created the trust, my mother told me it belonged to us.”
“It belongs to Sarah.”
“She said Anna stole the money from the foundation.”
“Did you believe her?”
“I needed to.”
“Why?”
“Because the alternative was admitting my entire life was a lie.”
James waited.
Melissa sat on the edge of the sofa.
“My mother found me when I was three.”
“Found you where?”
“I don’t know. She said my biological parents abandoned me.”
“Were you legally adopted?”
“I have documents.”
“Real documents?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
James sat across from her.
“What does Victor have on you?”
“A video.”
“What kind of video?”
“Something that happened at St. Catherine’s.”
“Were you there when Sarah was born?”
“I was giving birth.”
“Anna said the hospital records were changed.”
Melissa’s eyes filled with fear.
“Do not search the hospital.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor will hurt anyone who gets close.”
“He threatened Sarah.”
“He doesn’t want Sarah hurt. He needs her alive.”
“For the trust?”
“No.”
The single word altered the room.
James leaned forward.
“Then why?”
Melissa shook her head.
“My mother never told me everything.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That Sarah’s birth connected several families. That if the truth came out, powerful people would lose everything.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Sarah switched at birth?”
Melissa looked toward the floor.
“I don’t know.”
“Is she our daughter?”
“She is my daughter.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Melissa stood suddenly.
“Do not say that.”
“Then answer me.”
“I gave birth to a baby girl. They placed a baby in my arms. That baby was Sarah.”
“You didn’t notice anything unusual?”
“Diane kept everyone away. She said there were complications. I was medicated and barely conscious.”
“What did Anna find?”
“I don’t know. She confronted my mother, and three days later she died.”
The statement hung between them.
“You knew Anna’s death was connected?”
“I suspected.”
“And you stayed silent.”
“I was afraid.”
“You allowed them to target Sarah.”
“I thought the guardianship was temporary. My mother said she needed access to the trust to pay Victor. Once Victor was gone, we would cancel everything.”
“You packed Sarah’s suitcase.”
“I believed Pine Ridge was safe.”
“You signed my name.”
“My mother said the court would reject the petition unless it appeared we both agreed.”
“You told Sarah I didn’t want her.”
Melissa’s voice cracked.
“I needed her to cooperate.”
James looked away.
No explanation could repair that.
Melissa reached into her coat and removed an envelope.
“I will give you sole custody.”
James did not move.
“I’ll sign whatever you want,” she continued. “I’ll leave Westbridge. You and Sarah can start again.”
“What do you want?”
“Withdraw the complaint against my mother.”
“No.”
“Then Sarah will never be safe.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a warning.”
“From whom?”
“Victor.”
James let the silence stretch.
Melissa placed the envelope on the table.
“There is another guardianship hearing in three days. Not the one Margaret knows about.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A private competency review.”
“Private courts do not exist.”
“This one does.”
“Where?”
“Beneath the Mercer Foundation.”
James stared at her.
“There is a courtroom in the foundation building?”
“It looks like a conference room. Retired judges, doctors, and attorneys meet there. They prepare every case before it reaches the real court.”
“Why?”
“So no one makes mistakes.”
Melissa stepped closer.
“They have already chosen what happens to you.”
“What happens?”
“You lose your job after an anonymous medical complaint. Your company places you on leave. Doctor Lyle declares you mentally unstable. Then evidence appears showing you misused company funds.”
“I haven’t.”
“They don’t need it to be true.”
She looked toward the front door.
“You have forty-eight hours to sign control of the trust to Diane.”
“And if I refuse?”
Melissa’s eyes moved toward the ceiling.
James heard a faint electronic click inside the wall.
Melissa whispered, “They are listening.”
The lights went out.
Detective Ortiz’s voice came through James’s hidden earpiece.
“James, leave the house now.”
A second later, the front window shattered.
No one was injured, but a small black device rolled across the carpet.
May you like
A recorded voice began playing.
“Mr. Walker, your sister was given the same opportunity.”
