Chapter 7 - Caleb’s Anger
Caleb agreed to meet Mason at a police station.
He entered wearing a black hoodie and carrying years of anger.
Mason recognized himself immediately.
The same jaw.
The same guarded eyes.
Caleb remained standing.
“I don’t need a father.”
Mason nodded.
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re right.”
The answer surprised him.
Mason continued.
“I didn’t come to ask you to forgive me.”
“You believed I was dead.”
“Yes.”
“You never checked?”
Mason absorbed the accusation.
“I trusted the wrong people.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“Violet trusted Claire. Look what happened.”
The sentence landed hard.
Caleb had every reason to distrust family.
Detective Brooks asked about Claire.
Caleb admitted meeting her three weeks earlier.
She confessed part of the truth.
She said Rebecca planned to leave Texas with him after graduation.
Claire wanted Caleb to contact Mason first.
“She said she couldn’t live with it anymore,” Caleb explained.
“Then why did she go to Violet’s house?” Mason asked.
“To destroy the photograph and bracelet before Rebecca found out.”
Claire wanted the truth revealed, yet still feared evidence that would expose her role.
Two opposite instincts had torn her apart.
Caleb gave detectives an address.
An abandoned cabin once owned by Rebecca’s father.
Police found Claire there.
She was alive.
Her wrist was injured, and her car keys were missing.
Claire claimed Rebecca forced her to drive away after Violet fell.
Rebecca abandoned her at the cabin and fled.
Mason met Claire at the hospital.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Claire said:
“I’m sorry.”
Mason looked at his sister.
“You told me my son died.”
“I thought Rebecca would disappear with him anyway. She offered me money. I was terrified about school debt.”
“So you sold me a funeral that never happened.”
Claire began crying.
“I regretted it every day.”
“Regret didn’t bring him back.”
“No.”
“Why pay Rebecca?”
“She said she would tell you I planned everything.”
“You helped plan enough.”
Claire nodded.
Mason did not forgive her.
He did not comfort her.
He simply said:
“You will tell the police everything.”
Claire agreed.
Then Detective Brooks entered.
Rebecca’s car had been found outside Dallas.
Inside was Violet’s missing lemonade glass and Claire’s phone.
But Rebecca was gone.
A handwritten address lay on the passenger seat.
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It belonged to Caleb’s foster home.
👉 Rebecca was heading toward the only family Caleb had ever trusted, and she believed they possessed evidence against her.
