Chapter 10 - THE SECRET BENEFICIARY
I stayed.
Not because I trusted him.
Because I needed to know.
“What is worse?”
Dad looked at Mom.
Mom shook her head.
Vanessa began crying again.
Finally Dad said:
“The insurance policy was changed.”
“Changed how?”
“Alice was originally insured through you.”
I knew that.
“You said it was for college.”
“Yes.”
“So what changed?”
“The beneficiary.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“You weren't removed because of Vanessa.”
I stared at him.
“Then who?”
My father looked directly at me.
“Your mother.”
I felt numb.
Mom had made herself beneficiary.
Not Vanessa.
Not me.
My mother.
“Why?”
Mom finally spoke.
“Because I needed security.”
I laughed.
“Security?”
“I was afraid your father would leave me.”
“So you used my daughter?”
“I never intended for Alice to be hurt.”
“But you did hurt her.”
She looked away.
Rebecca had warned me that guilt could make people defensive.
She was right.
My mother began explaining.
My father had accumulated debts.
Vanessa had gambling problems.
The house was mortgaged.
And the family had been quietly collapsing for years.
My money had kept everything alive.
Then I decided to stop.
That was when they panicked.
But there was still one question.
“Why was Alice photographed?”
My father went silent.
“Dad?”
He looked at me.
“I was documenting her health.”
“Why?”
He wouldn't answer.
Then Mom said:
“Because we needed proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That you were an unfit mother.”
I couldn't breathe.
They had planned to use Alice.
They had been collecting photographs, records, and incidents to create a case.
My overtime.
My long shifts.
My exhaustion.
Every time Alice was sick.
Every time I worked weekends.
They were building a story.
A story that I was neglecting my child.
And Christmas had been the final piece.
They wanted to show that I wasn't there.
That Alice was safer with them.
I stared at my mother.
“You wanted custody.”
She didn't deny it.
“Not me,” she whispered.
“Who?”
“Vanessa.”
I felt the room spin.
Vanessa wanted my daughter.
And suddenly I remembered her text.
You have no idea what your father did to Alice.
Maybe Vanessa wasn't the mastermind.
Maybe she had been trapped too.
I looked at her.
May you like
“Tell me everything.”
She began to cry.
