Chapter 4 - What My Family Was Really After
The next morning, my face appeared on television.
Wyatt turned the screen off before I could see much.
“Don’t.”
“I want to know.”
“You need rest.”
“I need the truth.”
That became my answer to everything.
The doctors wanted patience.
Police wanted patience.
Wyatt wanted me protected.
But twenty-eight years of my life had just become a question mark.
I wanted answers.
Arthur returned that afternoon carrying copies of Caroline’s financial records.
The land had been purchased by my great-grandmother decades earlier.
It sat outside what had once been the edge of Columbus.
Now developers wanted it.
One preliminary valuation placed it at several million dollars.
But there was a complication.
The title had never legally transferred after Caroline’s death.
If Arthur’s records were authentic, I was the heir.
Wyatt stared at the documents.
“So this wasn’t only about me.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Your money made Gregory impatient. The land made Sadie dangerous.”
Dangerous.
I almost laughed.
I had spent my whole life trying not to cause trouble.
I remembered being fourteen and asking why Melanie received a new laptop while I got a used one.
“You should be grateful,” Brenda told me.
At seventeen, I wanted to attend an art program in Chicago.
Gregory refused.
Melanie spent that summer in Europe.
At twenty-two, I moved into my own apartment.
Mom called me disloyal.
Every independent decision became evidence that something was wrong with me.
Now I understood why.
Control had always been the point.
Wyatt sat beside me.
“Sadie, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Melanie came to my office three months ago.”
I stared at him.
He had told me about her messages.
Not this.
“She said you were unstable.”
“What?”
“She claimed your parents were worried about you. She said you had a history of lying and that you were only marrying me because of my money.”
I almost laughed.
Wyatt had proposed before selling the company.
“She knew that.”
“I told her.”
“What happened?”
“I had security escort her out.”
He took out his phone.
“I kept the footage.”
Detective Ruiz obtained a copy.
On the recording, Melanie stood in Wyatt’s office lobby.
Her expression was calm.
Too calm.
Then she said something none of us expected.
“Once Sadie is gone, you’ll understand.”
Ruiz replayed it.
Gone.
Not dumped.
Not separated.
Gone.
My skin prickled.
“When was this?”
“June fourth,” Wyatt said.
Arthur suddenly looked up.
“What?”
Wyatt repeated the date.
Arthur went pale.
“That was the day Gregory contacted me.”
The room fell silent.
The pieces were aligning.
My parents had located Arthur.
Melanie approached Wyatt.
The property paperwork began resurfacing.
And then my family suddenly insisted on a dinner to celebrate our engagement.
Detective Ruiz closed her notebook.
“This needs to go to the prosecutor.”
That evening, I finally looked at myself.
The nurse helped me stand.
I walked slowly into the bathroom.
Then I faced the mirror.
For several seconds, I couldn’t breathe.
Swelling distorted the left side of my face.
Bruising spread beneath the bandages.
I looked unfamiliar.
My mother’s words returned.
Let’s see if Wyatt still loves you with that face.
I started crying.
Quietly.
Not because I believed her.
Because some part of the child inside me still wanted to understand how a mother could say that.
The bathroom door opened slightly.
Wyatt stopped.
“Want me to leave?”
I shook my head.
He entered.
I looked at our reflections.
“Maybe she won.”
“No.”
“Look at me.”
“I am.”
“I don’t look like myself.”
Wyatt stood behind me.
“You’re standing after someone tried to put you down.”
He gently took my hand.
“That looks exactly like you.”
I closed my eyes.
For the first time since the attack, I allowed myself to lean against him.
Then someone knocked urgently.
Detective Ruiz entered the room carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a small digital recorder.
“Where did you find that?” Arthur asked.
“Your daughter’s old house.”
Arthur froze.
Caroline’s house had been empty for years.
The recorder had been hidden beneath a loose floorboard.
A forensic technician recovered one usable recording.
Ruiz warned us the audio was damaged.
Then she pressed play.
Static filled the room.
A young woman’s voice emerged.
Caroline.
My mother.
“If anything happens to me…”
Static.
“…Brenda knows about the property…”
More interference.
“…she keeps saying Sadie would be better with her…”
Arthur covered his mouth.
Then Caroline said one final clear sentence.
“Gregory told Brenda they could become a family if I disappeared.”
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
The attack on me suddenly seemed connected to something far older.
Detective Ruiz carefully took back the recorder.
“We’re reopening the circumstances surrounding Caroline Bell’s death.”
Arthur began crying.
May you like
Wyatt looked at me.
And I understood that finding out who I was might require discovering exactly what happened to the woman who gave me life.
