Chapter 7 - THE MESSAGE
The message contained only five words.
THE KID CHANGED THE TIMELINE.
Mom pulled me against her so fast that my cheek hit her shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
Vincent looked at David.
David immediately raised both hands.
“I didn’t send it.”
“It was sent to you,” Elena said.
“I receive hundreds of messages.”
“From Mason Reed?”
David looked away.
Vincent’s voice became quiet.
“When did you last speak to him?”
“I don’t remember.”
Elena checked David’s phone records with his attorney’s permission no longer available, so she stopped there.
The police officer stepped in.
“That’s something detectives can obtain properly.”
Vincent nodded.
“Then let them.”
David seemed surprised.
“You’re involving police?”
Vincent turned toward him.
“You sound disappointed.”
The officer asked Mom if she wanted to file a wage complaint.
She hesitated.
For years, hesitation had kept our lives together.
Mom hesitated before buying milk.
Before turning on the heat.
Before calling in sick.
Before asking David for money he already owed.
That afternoon, she finally stopped.
“Yes.”
David stared at her.
“You’re making a huge mistake.”
Mom looked straight at him.
“No.”
“My mistake was believing you every Friday.”
The officer wrote down her information.
Elena gave Mom the address of a labor attorney who had successfully handled wage-theft cases.
Vincent offered to pay.
Mom refused.
“I don’t want to owe you anything.”
Vincent respected that.
“Good.”
Then he gave the attorney’s card to Tina.
“Tell her Kane referred you.”
Mom frowned.
“That sounds like owing you something.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“She already hates me.”
“Why?”
“I won against her brother in a card game twenty years ago.”
Mom stared at him.
“That sounds ridiculous.”
“It was a very serious card game.”
For the first time that day, Mom laughed.
Just once.
Quietly.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Nobody spoke.
She was about to hang up when a recording began playing.
It was my father’s voice.
Mom froze.
“Claire.”
Her face went white.
“If you’re hearing this, I didn’t get the chance to explain.”
I had never heard Daddy’s voice so clearly.
Mom lowered herself into a chair.
The recording continued.
“David’s stealing payroll.”
“But David isn’t the person I’m afraid of.”
Vincent looked up.
My father’s voice crackled through the phone.
“I copied everything.”
“Mason found out.”
Vincent closed his eyes for one second.
Mom whispered.
“Oh God.”
Daniel continued.
“If something happens to me, don’t trust anyone who says they’re protecting you.”
A pause.
Then one final sentence.
“Especially Vincent Kane.”
The call ended.
Every person in the restaurant turned toward Vincent.
Mom stood.
May you like
She took my hand.
And this time when she said we were leaving, nobody tried to stop her.
