Chapter 5 - Margot Knew
“How long did you know?”
Margot crossed her arms.
“I knew Mom was going to give the biological grandchildren more.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
She sighed.
“Since Thanksgiving.”
Denton stopped washing vegetables.
The kitchen became silent.
“You knew she planned to hand my seven-year-old one dollar in front of everyone?”
“I told her it was harsh.”
“But you came anyway.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
I stared at her.
“Warn me.”
Margot looked uncomfortable.
“Mom said you needed to understand that Willa isn’t part of the family inheritance.”
There it was.
Not a spontaneous Christmas cruelty.
A message.
Carefully planned.
Delivered through a child.
“Why?”
“You know how she is.”
“No.”
“I know how we allow her to be.”
Margot’s face hardened.
“Don’t turn this into some morality speech.”
“Your children got fifteen thousand dollars yesterday.”
Her expression changed.
“That has nothing to do with it.”
“It has everything to do with it.”
Margot stepped closer.
“Dad’s properties are a mess today.”
“They’re not a mess.”
“He just has to manage them.”
“He doesn’t know how.”
“Then maybe he should learn.”
“Karen, please.”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“We all benefit from those properties someday.”
That sentence was so revealing that even Denton looked surprised.
I studied my sister.
“This isn’t about Dad struggling.”
Margot said nothing.
“You’re afraid your inheritance will lose value.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s exactly what you said.”
She picked up her purse.
“Fine.”
“Destroy everything because your feelings got hurt.”
Denton moved before I could respond.
“My daughter cried herself to sleep because your mother told her she wasn’t real family.”
Margot stopped.
“She’s seven.”
“I know.”
“Then act like her aunt.”
Margot’s face flushed.
“I am her aunt.”
Denton looked at her.
“Biologically?”
She went silent.
He nodded.
“That’s what I thought.”
Margot left.
Ten minutes later, my phone buzzed.
A family group chat I had muted years ago exploded with messages.
Margot had written first.
Karen is refusing to manage Mom and Dad’s properties because Willa didn’t get a Christmas check.
My mother responded.
Some people reveal themselves when money is involved.
I stared at that sentence.
Then Nolan wrote something that surprised me.
That’s not what happened.
Harriet responded immediately.
Stay out of this, Nolan.
A screenshot appeared privately on my phone.
Nolan had sent it.
It was a message from my mother dated three weeks earlier.
Christmas will finally remind Karen where she and that child stand.
I read it twice.
May you like
Then Nolan sent another message.
There’s something else you need to see.
