Chapter 14 - Ava’s Message
Jason was the one who called police.
He sounded terrified.
“She took Ava.”
Ava was sixteen.
Legally still a minor.
But old enough to have opinions nobody had asked about.
I called her phone.
Off.
Texted.
Nothing.
Then at 11:03, a message appeared from an unknown number.
Aunt Rachel, I’m okay.
Mom thinks I’m with her.
I’m not.
Do not tell Dad yet.
I stared.
Then another message.
I have proof.
We arranged to meet at a coffee shop thirty miles away.
Marcus came with me.
Ava sat in the back booth wearing a baseball cap.
She looked exhausted.
I hugged her before asking anything.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s your mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ava.”
“I really don’t.”
She had slipped away at a gas station when Monica stopped for food.
Why?
“Because she scared me.”
That hurt.
“What did she say?”
“That everyone betrayed her.”
“That you stole her family.”
“That Grandpa chose you.”
“That Grandma ruined everything.”
Ava looked down.
“She kept saying Eli was supposed to fix it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Fix what?”
“Our money.”
There it was again.
Ava pulled a thumb drive from her pocket.
“I copied Mom’s laptop.”
Marcus and I looked at each other.
“What’s on it?”
“Everything.”
Emails with Sarah.
Messages with Peter.
Financial records.
But Ava had found something else.
A folder named DAD.
Inside were photographs of Jason meeting another woman.
Monica had known for months he was having an affair.
Ava whispered.
“She thought Dad was going to leave.”
“So she wanted Eli’s trust because she was afraid she’d have nothing.”
Ava nodded.
My sister had not simply wanted a child.
She wanted security.
A new center of gravity.
Something nobody could take.
Money attached to a boy who already loved her.
The plan was still monstrous.
But now I saw the emotional architecture beneath it.
Fear.
Humiliation.
Grief.
Envy.
None excused what she did.
They only explained why she was willing to do it.
Ava handed me one printed email.
“This is the worst one.”
Monica had written to Peter.
If Rachel loses custody, I don’t want temporary placement.
I want permanent guardianship.
Peter responded:
Then we need a finding that follows her.
Substantiated neglect.
Mental instability.
Career impairment.
Make it impossible for her to recover.
I read it twice.
Ava watched me.
“Are you going to hate Mom?”
I folded the paper.
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“I’m going to hold her responsible.”
“That’s different.”
Before we left, police called.
Monica’s car had been found at a marina.
Her purse was inside.
May you like
So was her phone.
And on the passenger seat lay a handwritten note addressed to me.
