Chapter 15 - THE FAMILY BETRAYAL
Melissa had hugged me at the baptism.
She had held Lily and said she had my eyes.
She had brought me soup after delivery.
She had sat on my couch while I cried from exhaustion and told me Daniel was lucky to have me.
And according to Chloe, she had also helped him impersonate me.
I called Patricia.
“Did Melissa know?”
Silence.
That silence answered too much.
“Patricia.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She began crying.
“Daniel told her you were considering separating.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“And?”
“He said he needed documents organized in case things became ugly.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did she pretend to be me in front of a notary?”
“I don’t know.”
Melissa denied everything when questioned.
Then the notary was shown six photographs.
She selected Melissa immediately.
The police became involved because identity documents had allegedly been falsified.
Daniel’s divorce case was no longer the only problem.
Melissa hired her own attorney.
Then she changed her story.
Daniel had told her I knew.
Of course he had.
That was his favorite lie.
Jennifer knows.
Jennifer agreed.
Jennifer understands.
Everyone received a different version of me.
A fictional woman who approved whatever Daniel wanted.
Melissa claimed she believed the document merely helped Daniel manage household bills while I was pregnant.
Rachel asked the obvious question.
“Why impersonate Jennifer if Jennifer had agreed?”
Melissa had no answer.
Two days later, she called me directly.
Against Rachel’s advice, I answered.
Her voice was shaking.
“I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I swear I didn’t know about Chloe at first.”
“But you knew later.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“About two months before Lily was born.”
My chest tightened.
“You sat at my baby shower.”
She began sobbing.
“I know.”
“You helped decorate.”
“I know.”
“You watched me open gifts for Lily while knowing your brother was paying another woman’s maternity bills with our money.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Losing my family.”
I looked around my mother’s kitchen.
“You chose your family.”
“No.”
“You chose Daniel.”
She cried harder.
Then she said something that stopped me.
“He told me he had something on Dad.”
“What?”
“He said if I didn’t help, he would destroy Dad.”
Robert.
Daniel’s own father.
“What could he have on Robert?”
“I don’t know.”
“Melissa.”
“I swear.”
She lowered her voice.
“But after the baptism, Dad started going through old business records.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel has been asking him questions about the family company for years.”
Robert owned a small manufacturing firm he had built from nothing.
Daniel had never worked there.
He had always claimed he had no interest in it.
That evening, Robert called me.
His voice was steady.
Too steady.
“Jennifer, I think Daniel stole from me too.”
May you like
Then he gave me a number.
One hundred and twelve thousand dollars.
