Chapter 3 - The Account With My Name
Alexander asked the manager to speak privately.
My mother immediately interrupted.
“There is nothing to discuss.”
The manager hesitated.
Alexander looked at me.
“It’s Emily’s family.”
That was his way of giving me the decision.
I nodded.
“Say it here.”
Lucas looked irritated.
“Emily, can we not turn my rehearsal dinner into an accounting meeting?”
“I’m not the one who flagged the account.”
The manager opened the folder he had been carrying.
“The final wedding balance was paid three days ago.”
Sophie smiled nervously.
“Yes.”
“Lucas told me his parents covered it.”
The manager looked at my mother.
“The wire came from a trust account.”
My mother’s face became rigid.
“That is private.”
The manager continued.
“The account holder listed on the transfer is Emily Grace Bennett.”
I forgot how to breathe.
Alexander became completely still.
Lucas stared at me.
Sophie looked between us.
“What?”
I stepped closer.
“That isn’t possible.”
My grandmother had created a trust for me when I was a child.
According to my mother, it had contained enough money to pay for college and perhaps help with my first home.
When I was twenty-one, she told me bad investments had destroyed most of it.
I had believed her.
I had worked two jobs during my final year of school because I believed her.
“What amount?” Alexander asked.
The manager hesitated.
My mother snapped.
“He cannot disclose that.”
“I can,” I said.
“It’s apparently my money.”
The manager swallowed.
“Seventy-eight thousand four hundred dollars.”
Sophie sat down.
Lucas whispered something under his breath.
I turned toward my mother.
“Did you use my trust to pay for this wedding?”
She lifted her chin.
“It was family money.”
“It had my name on it.”
“You weren’t using it.”
For several seconds, I heard nothing except the faint music coming through the dining room speakers.
I remembered skipping meals in college.
I remembered wearing the same winter coat for six years.
I remembered my mother telling relatives that Lucas needed more help because he had greater potential.
Alexander placed his hand against the small of my back.
He did not speak for me.
He waited.
I looked at my mother.
“You told me the money was gone.”
“It would have been eventually.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Lucas finally stepped between us.
“Mom told me you agreed.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“For the wedding.”
His voice became quieter.
“She said you knew about the trust and wanted to contribute.”
My mother’s eyes flashed toward him.
“Lucas.”
He ignored her.
“She told Sophie the same thing.”
Sophie stared at him.
“You said Emily volunteered.”
“I thought she had.”
I turned back to my mother.
“Seventy-eight thousand dollars.”
She crossed her arms.
“You married a billionaire.”
That sentence told me everything.
In her mind, the moment I married someone wealthy, anything that belonged to me became available for taking.
Alexander’s voice became cold.
“Emily being married to me does not make stealing from her acceptable.”
My mother smiled.
“Careful with that word.”
“Why?”
She did not answer.
Instead, she picked up her purse.
“We are finished discussing this.”
She walked toward the exit.
Then my father did something I had never seen him do.
He stood in front of the door.
“No, Catherine.”
My mother froze.
My father looked at me.
His face seemed twenty years older.
“I should have told you a long time ago.”
My chest tightened.
“Told me what?”
May you like
His eyes filled with shame.
“The wedding isn’t the first time she used your trust.”
