Chapter 4: Lauren Finally Learned Her Husband Had Never Left Ohio
Chapter 4: Lauren Finally Learned Her Husband Had Never Left Ohio
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
Lauren stood at the top of the stairs.
Brandon was behind her.
And in Lauren’s hand was a gun.
I could hear my own breathing.
The stranger beside me remained completely still.
Then Lauren smiled.
Not the nervous smile she’d given me on the porch earlier that evening.
This was different.
Cold.
Confident.
“You always were predictable,” she said.
I stepped out of the shadows.
“Apparently not.”
Brandon’s face changed instantly.
He looked at Lauren.
“You said he was gone.”
“He was supposed to be.”
Lauren slowly lowered the gun.
Not because she was surrendering.
Because she no longer needed to pretend.
“So,” she said quietly, “you really did come back.”
I looked at her.
“You really did bring him here.”
She shrugged.
“You weren’t supposed to know.”
“I know enough.”
Her eyes moved toward the stranger.
“Who is he?”
The man didn’t answer.
Lauren looked back at me.
“Is this your private investigator?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
I said nothing.
Brandon suddenly stepped forward.
“Lauren, we need to leave.”
She looked at him.
“Not yet.”
“The plan is ruined.”
“The plan isn’t ruined.”
She looked at me.
“It changed.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re still pretending you have a plan?”
She smiled.
“You have no idea what you’ve walked into.”
“Actually, I know quite a lot.”
I pointed at the black case.
“Like what’s inside that.”
Brandon tightened his grip around it.
Lauren’s expression finally changed.
“What did you do?”
“What?”
“You weren’t supposed to find that.”
I smiled.
“Neither were you.”
She stared at me.
Then she realized.
“The kitchen.”
I nodded.
“I moved it.”
Brandon looked at Lauren.
“You said it was under the sink.”
“It was.”
“Then how—”
“Because I knew you’d look there.”
Silence.
I had been bluffing.
The case was empty.
The real documents were somewhere else.
But Lauren didn’t know that.
And her reaction told me the case mattered.
The stranger quietly moved closer to the stairs.
Lauren noticed.
“Stop.”
He stopped.
She raised the gun slightly.
“Who are you?”
He finally answered.
“Someone who knows what you did.”
Lauren’s eyes narrowed.
“You have no idea what I’ve done.”
“I know about the transfers.”
Her face went pale.
“I know about the account in Brandon’s name.”
Brandon looked at her.
“You told me that account was clean.”
“It was.”
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“It wasn’t.”
I pulled out my phone.
“I have copies of everything.”
Lauren stared at the screen.
Her confidence began to disappear.
“Copies of what?”
“Your payments.”
“Those were legitimate.”
“The $12,500?”
“Consulting.”
“You aren’t a consultant.”
She looked at Brandon.
Then back at me.
“You’re recording this?”
“No.”
That was a lie.
The recording app was running.
Lauren took another step down.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll take it.”
The stranger moved between us.
“Don’t.”
Lauren raised the gun.
“Move.”
He didn’t.
Brandon suddenly grabbed her arm.
“Lauren, stop.”
She turned toward him.
“You said you could handle this.”
“I thought he was gone.”
“You were wrong.”
“Then we need to leave.”
She looked at him with disbelief.
“Without the documents?”
Brandon hesitated.
That was enough.
I finally understood.
The documents weren’t about my finances.
They were evidence.
Evidence that could expose all three of them.
And they were desperate to get it before anyone else saw it.
I looked at the black case.
“Where are the originals?”
Brandon said nothing.
Lauren stared at me.
“You’ll never find them.”
“Where did you put them?”
“Somewhere you’ll never think to look.”
I smiled.
“You mean somewhere you thought I’d never look.”
She didn’t answer.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message from my attorney.
I’ve reviewed the document you sent. The power of attorney is invalid.
I almost laughed from relief.
Lauren saw my expression.
“What?”
I showed her the message.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
“You signed it without a witness.”
She shook her head.
“That’s not possible.”
“It is.”
“Michael said—”
She stopped.
I noticed it.
“Michael said what?”
She said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“Michael told you the power of attorney was valid.”
Her silence answered me.
Brandon looked confused.
“You never told me that.”
Lauren ignored him.
I continued.
“How much did Michael promise you?”
She stared at me.
“Nothing.”
“Twenty percent?”
Her eyes flickered.
“Thirty?”
She looked away.
I knew I’d hit the truth.
The stranger spoke quietly.
“Michael promised her half.”
Lauren turned toward him.
“Shut up.”
The room went silent.
Brandon looked at Lauren.
“Half of what?”
She didn’t answer.
I did.
“My company.”
Brandon stared at her.
“You were going to give him half?”
Lauren’s voice cracked.
“Not give.”
“Then what?”
“Transfer.”
“After the company collapsed?”
She looked at me.
“You weren’t supposed to know.”
I nodded.
“That sentence is becoming your favorite tonight.”
Then something upstairs crashed.
Everyone looked toward the ceiling.
The stranger immediately turned.
“Someone else is here.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Who?”
Nobody answered.
Brandon dropped the case.
Lauren raised the gun.
A shadow moved across the upstairs hallway.
Then footsteps began coming down.
One step.
Then another.
A man appeared at the top of the staircase.
Michael.
My business partner.
He looked at me.
Then at Lauren.
Then at Brandon.
His expression was completely calm.
“You’re making this much harder than it needed to be.”
I stared at him.
“You broke into my house.”
Michael smiled.
“No.”
He slowly descended the stairs.
“I came to retrieve something that belongs to me.”
“You mean the documents.”
“Exactly.”
“Why didn’t you just ask?”
He laughed.
“Because you would have said no.”
I looked at Lauren.
“Did you know he was coming?”
She shook her head.
Michael stopped beside her.
“You didn’t tell her?”
“No.”
Lauren stared at him.
“Tell me what?”
Michael looked at her.
“The truth.”
She backed away.
“What truth?”
Michael’s expression hardened.
“The money wasn’t stolen from the company.”
I frowned.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“It was moved.”
“By who?”
“Your father.”
The room went silent.
“My father?”
Michael nodded.
“He was trying to protect you.”
I stared at him.
“From what?”
Michael smiled.
“From me.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
Michael reached into his coat and pulled out a second photograph.
He held it toward me.
It showed my father sitting in a car.
Across from him sat Michael.
But the date on the photograph was impossible.
It was taken two days before my father died.
And on the table between them was the same black case.
The one Brandon had just dropped.
Michael looked at me.
“Your father knew what I was planning.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Then why didn’t he tell me?”
Michael’s smile disappeared.
“Because he tried.”
I looked at him.
“What happened?”
Michael’s voice became almost a whisper.
“Lauren stopped him.”
I turned toward my wife.
She was crying now.
“No,” she whispered.
Michael looked at her.
“You know it’s true.”
I stared at Lauren.
She slowly lowered the gun.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“I didn’t know he was going to die.”
