Chapter 15 - Monica’s Note
The note began with blame.
Of course it did.
Rachel,
You always win.
You won with Dad.
You won with Mom.
You won with the Navy.
You got the husband everyone loved, the child everyone adored, and the career everyone respected.
I got leftovers.
I kept reading.
She wrote about miscarriages.
Debt.
Jason’s affair.
Watching my parents brag about my promotion.
Watching Eli run toward me at family dinners.
Every sentence treated my happiness like something stolen from her.
Then the tone changed.
Peter said you needed to understand what losing feels like.
I thought if Eli stayed with us for six months, you would finally choose family over the Navy.
I never wanted Sarah to take him.
I never told her to fake injuries.
I never thought Dad would make the report before we were ready.
Before we were ready.
Those words made me sick.
She had still planned something.
Then the final paragraph.
I know what I did cannot be undone.
But Sarah lied about one thing.
Peter’s plan wasn’t only revenge.
He wanted access to a case you handled three years ago.
Ask Hollis about Norfolk Contract 17-B.
I gave the note to federal investigators.
Captain Hollis knew exactly what it meant.
Contract 17-B was the case that ended Peter Lang’s career.
But apparently the fraud I uncovered had been larger than we knew.
The company receiving illegal Navy legal-support contracts had laundered payments through Jason Whitfield Construction.
My brother-in-law’s company.
Jason had unknowingly become part of Peter’s financial network.
Or so he claimed.
Peter needed my career destroyed because a renewed investigation into him could expose additional federal fraud.
Monica’s financial desperation gave him a perfect entry point.
He offered to rescue Jason’s company after she gained control of Eli’s trust.
Not with Eli’s money alone.
With money Peter needed laundered.
The conspiracy went beyond custody.
Beyond revenge.
It became federal fraud.
Peter Lang was arrested two days later.
Sarah remained in custody.
Jason surrendered financial records and began cooperating.
Monica was still missing.
Search teams checked the marina.
No evidence she entered the water.
A traffic camera eventually showed her climbing into another vehicle.
A rideshare.
Destination.
My parents’ lake cabin.
I knew the place.
So did Ava.
Police wanted to go immediately.
I stopped them long enough to tell Dana and Marcus.
Then I looked at my father.
“I’m going with you.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“She’s my sister.”
Thomas looked at me.
May you like
For once, he did not retreat.
“Then we both go.”
