Chapter 5 - BETHANY’S SECOND PHONE
I had downloaded only the first eleven minutes.
Not enough to capture the shove into the chair.
But enough to show Bethany restraining Rosie and Mom directing her.
Enough to destroy the idea that the injuries came from me.
I copied the file three times.
Laptop.
Encrypted cloud.
USB drive.
Then I called Dana.
“Do not contact my parents.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“They know I accessed the cameras.”
“How?”
“Someone cut me off.”
“Could be your father.”
“Maybe.”
Evidence first.
Then Megan asked:
“Who had the new system installed?”
I knew.
“Dad’s finance manager recommended somebody.”
“Name?”
I searched old family emails.
Harlan Pierce.
Dad’s outside finance consultant.
He had been around for years.
Handled refinancing.
Equipment loans.
Tax planning.
I had never liked him.
Mostly because every conversation with Harlan ended with him telling Dad how easy money could be if he “used idle assets correctly.”
My phone rang.
Bethany.
I answered but didn’t speak.
She did.
“You’re fucking insane.”
“Why?”
“You hacked Mom and Dad’s security system.”
Interesting.
Not Rosie.
Not the slap.
The cameras.
“How did you know?”
Silence.
“Bethany.”
“Harlan called me.”
There.
Not Mom.
Not Dad.
Harlan.
“Why did Harlan know?”
“He manages the cloud account.”
“Why did he call you?”
“He thought you might have seen something.”
My stomach tightened.
“Something besides you hurting Rosie?”
She stopped.
“What did you see?”
“Enough.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand your fingers left marks around my daughter’s arms.”
“She wasn’t supposed to get hurt.”
I laughed once.
“You squeezed her until she cried.”
“Mom said—”
She stopped.
“Finish that.”
“No.”
“What did Mom say?”
“You already hate her.”
“This isn’t about whether I hate anyone.”
“It is for you.”
“No.”
I lowered my voice.
“It is about Rosie.”
Bethany breathed hard.
Then:
“Dad said it was just to scare you.”
“What was?”
“The whole thing.”
My grip tightened.
“Why?”
Silence.
“Rosie’s trust?”
Bethany stopped breathing.
That answered enough.
“What did Dad promise you?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why help?”
“Because you think you’re better than everyone.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Personal resentment mixed with financial manipulation.
Dad hadn’t invented Bethany’s bitterness.
He used it.
“You left years ago.”
She continued.
“You got Sarah. You got your own house. You got a daughter everyone loves.”
“Bethany—”
“And every time Dad needed help, you said no.”
“Because he wanted me to invest Rosie’s money.”
Silence.
“Did he tell you I refused?”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you why?”
“He said you wanted Sarah’s family money all to yourself.”
“That money belongs to Rosie.”
“She’s four.”
“She’s still a person.”
Bethany laughed bitterly.
“You sound like Sarah.”
That hurt.
Because Sarah had said the same thing.
A child isn’t a wallet you get to open because she can’t read the statement.
“What did Dad promise you?”
I asked again.
Bethany’s voice changed.
“You don’t know what I owe.”
There.
Debt.
“How much?”
“No.”
“Credit cards?”
Silence.
“Loans?”
“Shut up.”
“Dad offered to pay them.”
“He said the family could fix everything once the trust was managed properly.”
The family.
Meaning Rosie.
“How much do you owe?”
Bethany whispered:
“Seventy-three thousand.”
I sat down.
Dad had bought my sister’s participation for seventy-three thousand dollars.
“Did you know they planned to call Dana yesterday?”
“No.”
“Did you know Mom had a forged trust amendment?”
“What?”
That sounded genuine.
Maybe Bethany knew only part.
“Did you know Sarah’s signature appears on a document dated after she died?”
Silence.
Then:
“No.”
For the first time, Bethany sounded afraid.
Then I heard another phone buzzing near her.
Not the one she was using.
A second device.
She muttered:
“Shit.”
“Who is that?”
“No one.”
“Harlan?”
Silence.
Then she disconnected.
Megan looked at me.
“What?”
“Harlan called Bethany the second I got into the camera.”
“Why?”
“Because I think Dad’s finance consultant is more involved than managing cameras.”
I opened Dana’s scanned amendment again.
Metadata.
Creator:
Pierce Financial Document Services.
Harlan Pierce.
May you like
The man managing my parents’ finances had also processed the document carrying my dead wife’s signature.
📖 Discover why Harlan Pierce created the forged-looking trust amendment—and what his files revealed about a loan due against my father’s company on Monday morning in CHAPTER 6. 👇
