Chapter 14 - The Last Secret in the Safe.
The police would not let us open the flash drive ourselves after Rebecca surrendered it as evidence.
But Rebecca described the video while an officer took notes.
Three months earlier, Diane had entered my office with Vincent while Rebecca kept me occupied at dinner downstairs.
A small security camera Rebecca had installed for wedding gift deliveries had captured them opening my safe.
I had never known the camera existed.
Rebecca said she saved the clip because her mother frightened her that night.
"She found Claire's trust statement and stopped talking for almost a minute."
I asked Rebecca what happened next.
"She said Lily was sitting on enough money to solve every problem our family had."
Hannah whispered a curse.
Rebecca's eyes stayed on the floor.
"I told her the money belonged to Lily."
"And then you helped her access it."
Rebecca nodded once.
"Yes."
The admission sounded small compared with the damage behind it.
"Why?"
She looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.
"Because I wanted this life so badly that every bad decision started sounding temporary."
I said nothing.
"First it was one signature to speed up a school evaluation."
"Then it was one meeting with Vincent."
"Then one form, one account, one trip, one more lie."
She took a shaky breath.
"And every time I wanted to stop, my mother reminded me that you would choose Lily over me anyway."
"She was right about one thing."
Rebecca closed her eyes.
"I know."
I looked across the chapel at Lily.
She sat beside Hannah, still wearing her white dress, holding the stuffed rabbit Marisol had packed for the life Rebecca planned to force on her.
That image hurt more than the stolen money.
Money could be recovered.
Trust did not work that way.
Detectives arrived from Nashville to coordinate the financial and document investigations.
Diane and Rebecca were separated for formal interviews.
Gavin voluntarily handed over his phone and admitted witnessing the false enrollment form.
Marisol gave a statement about the packing instructions and the service gate pickup.
The wedding guests were eventually told the ceremony was canceled because of a serious family matter.
Some left quietly.
Some tried to call me.
I answered no one.
Before the officers escorted Rebecca from the chapel for questioning, she asked to speak to me for ten seconds.
I agreed only with an officer standing beside us.
She looked at Lily first, but I stepped slightly between them.
"Ethan, I am sorry."
"You need to be sorry to her."
"I know."
Her voice broke.
"I kept telling myself I was building a family."
"You were trying to remove the child who was already my family."
Rebecca nodded.
Then she said something I did not expect.
"Check the bottom drawer in Lily's dresser when you get home."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"She hid something there after she overheard my mother."
"What?"
Rebecca looked toward Lily.
"I don't know."
"She wouldn't let me see it."
That evening, after the police finally cleared us to return home, Lily went straight upstairs.
I followed her to the bedroom.
She knelt beside her dresser and pulled the bottom drawer open.
Under a stack of pajamas was a small pink tablet.
Lily handed it to me.
"I recorded Grandma Diane because she said nobody believes kids."
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There were seven audio files on the screen.
The newest was labeled Wedding Day.
