Chapter 8 - The Golden Boy's Secret
"What do you mean you couldn't pay for it?" I demanded.
"I gave you the money for this venue six months ago! It was the money from my trust fund!"
Frank looked away, his jaw clenched tight.
Tyler took a step back, looking like he wanted to run.
"Where is my money, Dad?" I asked, stepping closer to him.
"It's gone," a quiet voice said from the end of the hallway.
We all turned.
My mother, Helen, stood there.
She looked different. The passive, quiet demeanor she had worn my entire life was gone.
"Helen, stay out of this," Frank warned her.
"No," my mother said firmly, walking toward us.
She stopped next to me and looked her husband in the eye.
"Tyler stole it," my mother said clearly.
"Mom!" Tyler gasped.
"He stole Sarah's trust fund to cover up the money he embezzled from your company," she continued, her voice remarkably steady.
"That's a lie!" Tyler cried out.
"I have the bank statements in my purse," my mother replied coldly.
I looked at my father.
"You knew?" I asked him, my voice breaking. "You knew he stole my money, and you covered it up?"
"He's your brother!" Frank defended wildly. "He made a mistake! If Sterling found out, the company would go under!"
"So your plan was to destroy my dresses?" I asked, disgusted.
"If you canceled the wedding, we could get the venue deposit back," Frank confessed.
"We could have used the refund to balance the books before Sterling's audit on Monday."
I felt sick to my stomach.
It was never about my independence.
It was never about my uniform.
May you like
It was about money, greed, and protecting the golden child at all costs.
"You destroyed my dresses," I said slowly, "because you were trying to hide a felony."
