Chapter 4 - WHAT SHE PUT IN MY DRINKThe bottle looked harmless.
That was my first thought when Denise brought her into the small library beside the reception hall.
She was maybe thirty-seven.
Dark blond hair.
Gray coat.
No makeup.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
She held our wedding card box in both hands.
Behind her stood another security guard.
Nick stared at her.
Rebecca stared back.
There was no dramatic music.
No screaming.
Just an awful silence filled with questions.
Robert sat heavily in an armchair.
Martha remained near the doorway between two officers.
“What is she doing here?” Martha demanded.
Rebecca flinched.
Nick turned toward his mother.
“You know her?”
Martha said nothing.
That answer was enough.
Rebecca slowly placed the card box on the table.
“I wasn’t stealing this.”
Denise crossed her arms.
“You were carrying it out of the reception.”
“I was trying to keep Martha from taking it.”
Every head turned.
Martha laughed.
“That’s insane.”
Rebecca looked directly at me.
“There’s an envelope in there with your name on it.”
I frowned.
“My name?”
“From Martha.”
My blood went cold.
Nick opened the box.
Hundreds of cream and gold envelopes filled it.
“Which one?”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“It’s taped underneath the false bottom.”
Nick froze.
False bottom?
The card box had been provided by Martha.
She insisted on buying it after complaining that the wooden one I ordered online looked “cheap.”
Nick lifted the cards out.
At the bottom lay a velvet insert.
He pulled.
It came loose.
Underneath was one white envelope.
Written across the front:
CLAIRE
My pulse thudded.
Nick reached for it.
Martha shouted.
“Don’t!”
That made the decision easy.
Nick opened it.
Inside were printed photographs.
He looked at the first.
Then at me.
“What?”
He handed it over.
The photograph showed me sitting at a coffee shop with a man.
A man I knew.
David Palmer.
My business accountant.
We had met two months earlier to review quarterly taxes.
The second photo showed David hugging me outside.
His wife had just given birth.
He had hugged me after I gave them a baby gift.
The photographs had been cropped tightly so his wedding ring wasn’t visible.
Another showed me entering a downtown hotel.
My floral company had decorated a corporate gala there.
Another showed my van parked outside David’s office.
Nick flipped through them.
“What the hell is this?”
Rebecca answered.
“She was going to put them in the box after dinner.”
My mouth went dry.
“What?”
“She wanted Nick to find them tonight.”
Martha shook her head.
“Lies.”
Rebecca reached into her pocket.
“I have recordings.”
Robert looked at Martha.
“Martha?”
“You believe her?”
Rebecca’s hands trembled.
“I spent twenty years staying quiet because you told me that was the only way your boys could have a normal family.”
Nick looked at his father.
“Dad.”
Robert covered his face.
Rebecca continued.
“My mother and Robert were together before he married Martha.”
Robert looked up.
“It ended before the wedding.”
Rebecca nodded.
“My mother found out she was pregnant after they separated.”
Nick’s voice was barely audible.
“You knew?”
Robert nodded.
“Yes.”
Ethan swore under his breath.
Martha’s entire body seemed rigid.
Robert looked at his sons.
“I supported Rebecca financially. I visited whenever I could.”
“Whenever Martha allowed it,” Rebecca said.
Robert didn’t deny it.
Nick paced away.
“So I’ve had a sister my entire life.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody told me.”
“I wanted to,” Robert said.
“Apparently not enough.”
The words hit hard.
Robert looked down.
Rebecca faced me.
“I came tonight because Martha called me three days ago.”
“Why?”
“She thought I still blamed Robert.”
“You don’t?”
Rebecca smiled sadly.
“I spent years blaming everyone.”
She looked at Martha.
“Then I grew up.”
Martha rolled her eyes.
Rebecca continued.
“She offered me fifty thousand dollars.”
The room went dead.
“For what?” Nick asked.
“To help destroy your marriage.”
Martha shouted, “Ridiculous!”
Rebecca pulled out her phone.
She tapped the screen.
Martha’s recorded voice filled the room.
“All you have to do is put the envelope where Nicholas will find it.”
Rebecca’s voice:
“What’s inside?”
“Proof that Claire has been seeing another man.”
“Is it real?”
A pause.
Then Martha laughed.
“Real enough if my son sees it after three glasses of champagne.”
Nick closed his eyes.
I felt sick.
The recording continued.
Rebecca:
“And then what?”
Martha:
“I’ll handle the rest.”
Nick opened his eyes.
“The rest?”
Rebecca stopped the recording.
“There’s more.”
“Play it.”
Martha began struggling against the security officer.
“This is illegal! She recorded me without consent!”
One officer calmly said, “You can discuss that with an attorney.”
Rebecca played another audio file.
Martha’s voice:
“After the photos, Claire will make a scene. She always does.”
I almost laughed at the absurdity.
I had spent years doing everything possible not to make scenes.
Then:
“Nick will leave with me. Tomorrow he’ll realize the marriage was a mistake.”
Rebecca:
“What if he believes Claire?”
Long pause.
Martha:
“Then I’ll give him another reason not to.”
The recording stopped.
Nick stared at his mother.
“What other reason?”
Martha smiled.
That was what frightened me.
Despite the police.
Despite the video.
Despite Rebecca.
She smiled.
“You’ll find out.”
The officers prepared to escort her from the building.
Nick stepped toward them.
“I want her gone.”
Martha stared at him.
“You will regret this.”
“No.”
“You think she loves you?”
She nodded at me.
“She loves what you can give her.”
I stepped forward.
“What exactly do you think Nick gives me that I couldn’t provide for myself?”
“You’ve always wanted our money.”
I laughed.
“Our townhouse still has a thirty-year mortgage.”
A few guests outside the library chuckled.
Nick almost smiled.
Martha snapped, “Robert’s money.”
Robert stared at her.
“What?”
She turned toward him.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Know what?”
Martha’s smile widened.
“You think tonight is about hair?”
She leaned toward me.
“You’ve been walking around feeling very clever because Nicholas chose you.”
I didn’t respond.
“But you have no idea what you married into.”
Nick stepped closer.
“What are you talking about?”
Martha looked at Robert.
And suddenly, for the first time, my father-in-law looked afraid.
“Don’t,” he said.
Martha laughed.
“Oh, now you want secrets?”
She turned toward Nick.
“Ask your father who owns the house you grew up in.”
Nick frowned.
“You and Dad.”
“Wrong.”
She pointed at Rebecca.
“Ask your precious new sister.”
Rebecca looked confused.
Martha’s voice sharpened.
“Tell him, Robert.”
Nobody moved.
Finally Robert whispered:
“The house belongs to Rebecca.”
Nick stared.
“What?”
“Her mother’s trust purchased it.”
Ethan muttered, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Martha’s face twisted.
“For thirty-five years, I have lived in a house paid for by his mistress.”
“She wasn’t my mistress.”
“Technicalities!”
Rebecca stared at Robert.
“You told me the trust property had been sold.”
Robert shook his head.
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother left instructions.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“What instructions?”
Robert swallowed.
“She wanted you to inherit it at forty.”
Rebecca went pale.
“My fortieth birthday is next month.”
Martha laughed bitterly.
“Exactly.”
Suddenly everything clicked.
Martha’s panic about Rebecca appearing.
The obsession with controlling Nick.
The desperation.
Rebecca wasn’t simply a secret child.
She was about to become the legal owner of the house Martha had treated like her kingdom for three decades.
Nick looked at his mother.
“Is that why you contacted her?”
Silence.
“You didn’t want Rebecca coming back.”
Martha said nothing.
“Did you offer her money to destroy our marriage because you thought she would stay away afterward?”
Still nothing.
Robert stood.
“Martha.”
His voice trembled with fury.
“Did you know the trust was about to transfer?”
She looked at him.
“I found the documents.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“You went through my safe?”
“I’m your wife!”
Rebecca shook her head.
“This was never about Claire.”
Martha glanced at me.
“Oh, sweetheart, it has always been about Claire.”
My skin prickled.
“Why?”
“Because Nicholas was supposed to help me.”
Nick stared at her.
“Help you do what?”
She smiled.
“Keep what belongs to our family.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“The house belongs to me.”
Martha’s expression hardened.
“Not if you sign it away.”
Rebecca laughed once.
“That’s why you called me.”
“Yes.”
“And when I refused—”
“I reminded you who abandoned you.”
Robert flinched.
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“You told me Nick and Ethan hated me.”
Martha shrugged.
“I said what was necessary.”
Nick stared at his mother.
“What did you expect me to do?”
“Convince your father to challenge the trust.”
“And if I refused?”
Her eyes moved toward me.
“I knew why you’d refuse.”
The hatred returned.
“Her.”
That was when I understood.
In Martha’s mind, I hadn’t simply married her son.
I had taken away a weapon she believed belonged to her.
And she intended to punish me for it.
The police began leading Martha away.
At the doorway, she twisted around.
“This isn’t over!”
Nick answered quietly.
“Yes, Mom.”
He took my hand.
“It is.”
But ten minutes later, one of the officers came back into the room.
“Mr. Collins?”
Nick turned.
“We found something in your mother’s purse.”
He held up a small plastic bottle.
I recognized the label immediately.
May you like
It was the same prescription sleep medication I had reported missing from my apartment three weeks earlier.
And suddenly, nobody was thinking about my hair anymore.
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