Chapter 4 - Half a Million DollarsI did not go home that night.
I also had a mild concussion.
The plate had broken close enough to my eye that the doctor called me lucky twice.
I didn’t feel lucky.
I felt cold.
Claire stayed with me.
That was the strangest part of the night.
Not my sister.
Not my best friend.
My husband’s younger sister.
She sat beside my bed while a nurse cleaned dried sauce and blood from my hair.
“I’m sorry,” Claire said.
I stared at the white hospital blanket.
“For what?”
“For not saying something sooner.”
I looked at her.
She was crying.
“About tonight?”
“About him.”
That got my attention.
Claire twisted a tissue between her fingers.
“Jackson’s always had a temper.”
“I know.”
“No. I mean before you.”
The nurse glanced at us but kept working.
Claire lowered her voice.
“When we were teenagers, he put a hole through Dad’s office door because Mom wouldn’t let him use her car.”
I said nothing.
“He shoved me into a cabinet once.”
“When?”
“I was sixteen. He was twenty.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did your parents know?”
“Dad did after. Mom told him I slipped.”
Of course she did.
Claire wiped her face.
“Jackson apologized. Mom made me promise not to talk about it because he was applying to graduate school.”
I closed my eyes.
The pattern suddenly seemed so obvious.
Genesis had not created Jackson’s anger.
But she had protected it.
Excused it.
Polished away every consequence until he believed consequences were things that happened to other people.
My phone vibrated.
Rebecca.
I answered.
“Tell me you’re at the hospital.”
“I’m at the hospital.”
“Good. Did police photograph the injury?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone witness the assault?”
“About nineteen people.”
Rebecca was silent for a moment.
“Well, that’s unusually helpful.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
It hurt my head.
Rebecca continued.
“Jackson was not arrested at the house because witnesses gave conflicting statements.”
I wasn’t surprised.
“Genesis?”
“Apparently she told officers you moved toward him when the plate broke.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“She’s lying.”
Rebecca heard her.
“Who’s with you?”
“Claire.”
“Jackson’s sister?”
“Yes.”
Claire leaned toward the phone.
“I saw everything.”
Rebecca paused.
“Would you be willing to give a statement?”
“Yes.”
Immediately.
No hesitation.
That mattered.
Rebecca explained that emergency temporary financial safeguards had been submitted.
They weren’t magic.
They couldn’t simply take Jackson’s money.
But they could notify banks and relevant institutions that there was an active dispute involving attempted unauthorized encumbrance of separately owned property.
Most importantly, Rebecca had sent formal notice to the lender Jackson was courting.
No loan could move forward using my apartment.
The Ember House deal was effectively dead unless Jackson found another source of almost one million dollars.
I should have felt victorious.
Instead, I felt exhausted.
“Rebecca,” I said, “file for divorce.”
Claire looked at me.
The nurse stopped for half a second.
Rebecca asked carefully, “Are you sure?”
I looked at the dried blood under my fingernails.
“Yes.”
There are marriages that die slowly.
Mine ended at 8:43 p.m. beneath a chandelier in Hidden Hills.
“I’ll prepare it tomorrow.”
“No,” I said.
“Tonight.”
Rebecca understood.
“Okay.”
After we hung up, Claire sat quietly.
Then she said, “He’s going to blame you for everything.”
“I know.”
“Mom will too.”
“I know.”
“She may come after you.”
I turned toward her.
“What do you mean?”
Claire looked toward the hospital room door.
Then back at me.
“The apartment isn’t the only reason Mom needs money.”
I waited.
Claire swallowed.
“Dad doesn’t know.”
My pulse changed.
“Know what?”
“Mom has been borrowing.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. A lot.”
“From who?”
“She asked me for twenty thousand last year.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“Ten.”
I stared at her.
“She said she needed it for Dad’s medical expenses.”
“Dad doesn’t have major medical expenses.”
“I figured that out later.”
Claire took out her phone.
“There’s more.”
She opened a screenshot.
It was a message from Genesis.
I read it twice.
Please don’t tell your father about the investment account. Jackson is fixing everything. Once Victoria transfers the condo, everybody gets made whole.
My skin went cold.
“Everybody?”
Claire nodded.
“I think Mom owes more people.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
That changed the meaning of dinner.
The apartment had not simply been a gift Genesis wanted.
It had been a rescue plan.
My rescue plan.
For a financial disaster nobody had told me existed.
“What investment account?” I asked.
Claire hesitated.
“I think Mom lost money.”
“How?”
“She won’t tell me.”
A nurse walked in carrying discharge papers.
Before she could speak, my phone began buzzing.
Dozens of notifications.
Texts.
Calls.
Voicemails.
Jackson.
Genesis.
Richard.
Three cousins.
Jackson again.
Then my best friend Marissa.
I answered her.
“Where are you?”
“At the hospital.”
“I’m coming.”
“How did you know?”
There was a long pause.
“Victoria…”
“What?”
“Someone posted a picture.”
My heart dropped.
“What picture?”
“From dinner.”
I looked at Claire.
She shook her head.
Marissa continued.
“It’s on Facebook.”
“What is?”
“You.”
The hospital room suddenly felt very small.
“Someone took a photo right after Jackson hit you.”
I closed my eyes.
“Oh God.”
“It’s spreading.”
“What does the post say?”
Marissa hesitated.
Then read it.
“Family dinner from hell. Man attacks wife after argument over money. Police called.”
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.
“Who posted it?”
“A teenager named Caleb Mercer.”
Genesis’s cousin’s son.
He had been at dinner.
Of course he had taken a photo.
Claire pulled out her phone and searched.
Her eyes widened.
“Twenty-three thousand shares.”
“What?”
“It’s been up forty-five minutes.”
I felt sick.
Then another notification appeared.
A message from an unknown number.
No name.
Just a photograph.
It showed a spreadsheet.
Names.
Dollar amounts.
Dates.
At the bottom was Genesis’s name.
Total outstanding:
$486,700.
A text followed.
You don’t know what they were going to use your apartment for.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
Then another message came.
Ask Jackson about Harbor Ridge Capital.
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