Chapter 6 - Julian’s Debt Was The Bait
I didn’t sleep that night.
Pain medication made the ceiling drift, but my mind stayed cruelly awake.
At 6:10 in the morning, Detective Andrea Walsh came into my room with coffee she didn’t drink and a folder she didn’t open right away.
Maya sat in the chair beside me.
The detective introduced herself, asked if I wanted a victim advocate present, and waited until I nodded before starting.
“We spoke with your brother,” she said.
My stomach tightened.
“Is he okay?”
I hated that I asked.
Detective Walsh’s face softened slightly. “He’s scared. But yes.”
Maya leaned forward. “What did he say?”
“He confirmed the gambling debt. But he also said your father told him the money was already available through a family medical account.”
I stared at her.
“That’s not true.”
“We know.”
She opened the folder.
There were printed texts between Dad and Julian. Bank screenshots. A copy of the forged loan application. A message from someone named Vance asking when Robert would deliver “the daughter’s signed release.”
Vance.
Not Julian’s bookie.
Not some casino collector.
A private lender Dad knew through his business contacts.
Detective Walsh tapped one page. “Your father appears to have borrowed against assets he did not legally control. When your attorney moved the funds into a protected trust, the lender demanded signed confirmation.”
Maya’s mouth tightened. “So Robert used Julian’s gambling debt to pressure Claire.”
The detective nodded. “That’s what it looks like.”
My chest hurt in a way no scan would show.
Julian’s debt was real.
But it wasn’t the whole reason they wanted my money.
It was the bait.
My father had taken the one family crisis that always worked on me and used it to hide his own fraud.
Mom had known enough to help.
Maybe not every detail. Maybe she didn’t know the lender’s name.
But she knew the pressure. She knew the script. She knew exactly where to place guilt so I would bleed quietly.
I looked toward the window. Dawn had turned the hospital glass pale blue.
“Did Julian know about the loan?”
Detective Walsh paused.
“He says no.”
Maya’s expression made it clear she wasn’t ready to believe him.
I wasn’t either.
Then my phone buzzed.
A voicemail notification from Mom.
Maya played it on speaker.
Mom’s voice filled the room, thin and trembling.
“Claire, this has gone too far. Your father is under terrible stress. Please don’t punish all of us because you’re angry. You know Julian won’t survive this. You know your father didn’t mean it.”
I closed my eyes.
The message ended.
Detective Walsh looked at me.
“Do you want to add that to evidence?”
I opened my eyes.
“Yes,” I said.
May you like
My voice didn’t shake.
“Add all of it.”
