Chapter 6 - The Sister Who Couldn’t Stay Neutral
Beth refused to explain by text.
They met again the following morning.
This time Beth brought an old laptop.
“I should’ve told you sooner,” she said.
Natalie’s stomach tightened.
Beth opened a folder of exported bookkeeping files from the period before she quit Chris’s company.
There were entries marked OWNER CONTRIBUTION — N.K.
Natalie stared at her initials.
“I never invested in his company.”
“I know.”
“How much?”
Beth scrolled.
Nine thousand.
Six thousand.
Four thousand five hundred.
Some entries corresponded to transfers Natalie had already seen.
Others didn’t.
“Where did the rest come from?”
“I don’t know.”
Beth rubbed both palms down her jeans.
“When I asked him why he was recording household money as your contribution, he said you wanted the tax benefit.”
“I never said that.”
“I figured you two had worked something out.”
Natalie looked at her.
“You figured.”
Beth flinched.
Natalie immediately regretted the sharpness, but she didn’t take it back.
That was how Chris had survived inside their family for years.
Everyone figured.
Everyone assumed.
Everyone decided somebody else must understand what he was doing.
Beth closed the laptop.
“I didn’t want Mom losing her house.”
“So you looked away.”
“Yes.”
The admission was quiet.
Honest enough to hurt.
Natalie asked Beth for copies.
Beth hesitated.
“If I give you these, Chris will know.”
“Yes.”
“He may never forgive me.”
Natalie waited.
Beth stared at the screen for a long time.
Then attached the exported files to an email.
Her finger hovered over Send.
“I’m not doing this because you’re right about everything,” she said. “I’m doing it because I’m done pretending not knowing makes me innocent.”
She sent them.
That afternoon Chris discovered Beth had helped.
He left Natalie a voicemail that contained no apology.
Only fury.
Then a second message arrived.
You have until Friday to undo the bank complaint or twelve people lose their jobs.
For the first time, Natalie understood the shape of his defense.
May you like
Chris wasn’t going to argue that he hadn’t taken the money.
He was going to make everyone else pay if she refused to let him keep it.
