Chapter 4 - The Blue Ledger
Maris called Elaine the night before Father’s Day.
Her mother answered in a whisper.
“Are you alone?” Maris asked.
Elaine hesitated.
“Your father is asleep.”
“Walter sent me the agreement.”
Silence.
Then Elaine began to cry.
“You weren’t supposed to find out like this.”
“How was I supposed to find out?”
“Franklin said he would repay you.”
“He never did.”
“I know.”
Maris closed her eyes.
The admission hurt more than she expected.
Her mother had known.
“How long?”
“Since the beginning.”
“And you let him call me selfish every time I asked about that money?”
Elaine’s voice broke.
“I was afraid the company would fail.”
“So you protected the company.”
“I protected the family.”
“No. You protected him.”
Elaine said nothing.
Maris asked about the blue ledger.
The crying stopped.
“How do you know about that?”
“Walter.”
Elaine whispered that Franklin kept two sets of records during the crisis.
The official books showed Maris’s inheritance as an unsecured family investment.
The private ledger showed it as emergency capital secured by the house and vehicle.
Elaine had found the ledger years earlier while cleaning Franklin’s office.
She intended to confront him.
Then Franklin caught her holding it.
He grabbed her wrist and told her never to touch his business records again.
Elaine hid the ledger inside a cedar cabinet in the guest room.
She had been too frightened to use it.
Too ashamed to destroy it.
“Is it still there?” Maris asked.
“Yes.”
“Bring it to lunch.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“He’ll know.”
“He already knows something is changing. That’s why he wants everyone at the table.”
Elaine began breathing rapidly.
“He thinks you’re coming to apologize.”
“For what?”
“For taking his clients.”
“They chose to leave.”
“He says you ruined Colton’s future.”
Maris looked at Walter’s documents.
Franklin had stolen her inheritance, concealed the agreement, and then called her disloyal for building a life without him.
“I am coming,” Maris said.
Elaine sounded relieved for one second.
Then terrified.
“What are you going to do?”
“Give him one chance to tell the truth.”
“He won’t.”
“I know.”
Maris hung up.
The next morning, she placed the legal folder, black envelope, silver pen, and Jaguar key inside her briefcase.
Then she activated a recording application on her phone.
She knew Franklin well enough to understand that written evidence might prove what he had done.
May you like
But his own voice would reveal why.
👉 Maris arrived hoping Elaine would bring the ledger—but Franklin had already discovered it was missing.
