That movement told me more than any confession could have.
Caleb stopped.
His face changed.
“Daddy?”
Derek said nothing.
Bianca reached for his arm.
Then I saw the bracelet.
Emerald stones.
A delicate gold clasp.
My mother’s bracelet.
The one Derek told me had disappeared during a burglary.
I stared at Bianca’s wrist.
“That belongs to me.”
Bianca looked down at it.
Then smiled.
“This?”
“It belonged to my mother.”
She turned the bracelet slowly.
“Derek gave it to me.”
“He told me it was stolen.”
Her smile sharpened.
“Maybe it belongs with someone who can appreciate it.”
Something inside me went completely still.
I looked at Derek.
“No more lies.”
His jaw tightened.
“Take Caleb and leave.”
I lifted my phone.
“Before or after you explain why you’re planning a wedding inside a property held in trust for your wife and son?”
Bianca’s face changed.
Lorraine stepped forward.
“This estate is none of your concern.”
“My name is on the trust.”
Silence.
Derek’s expression finally cracked.
I looked directly at him.
“You never worked at a construction site, did you?”
He said nothing.
“Buffalo?”
Still nothing.
“The worker apartment?”
His eyes hardened.
Then he stopped pretending.
“No.”
One word.
Two years of my life collapsed inside it.
“No,” he repeated. “I never worked there.”
Caleb stood beside me, confused.
I tightened my grip around his hand.
Derek continued.
“I used the power of attorney you gave me after the surgery.”
“That expired.”
“It was still useful.”
My stomach turned.
“You accessed my accounts?”
“Some.”
“You moved trust money?”
“Not directly.”
Lorraine interrupted.
“Do not answer her.”
Derek ignored her.
Maybe arrogance had finally become stronger than caution.
He looked at me with open contempt.
“You chose to live cheaply, Allison.”
I stared at him.
“Nobody forced you into that trailer.”
For a second, I could not speak.
Then every memory returned at once.
The nights Caleb cried because he was hungry.
The winter I kept the heater off until he fell asleep.
The applications I never submitted because Derek said he would seek custody if I worked.
The hospital bill I ignored because my insurance had mysteriously been canceled.
“You took my Social Security card.”
Derek shrugged.
“You blocked my access to our accounts.”
“You were irresponsible.”
“You canceled my health insurance.”
His mouth tightened.
“You threatened to take Caleb if I found a job.”
Bianca looked at him.
Derek snapped:
“She cannot prove any of that.”
I slowly raised my phone.
The recording timer was still moving.
“You’ve spent the last five minutes proving plenty.”
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
Derek lunged toward me.
I moved behind a dining chair.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
He reached again.
Lorraine rushed forward and slapped me across the face.
