Chapter 13 - THE DAUGHTER WHO HEARD EVERYTHING
Noah took Paige to the family attorney’s office.
By the time I arrived, she was sitting alone in the waiting room with swollen eyes and a typed statement on her lap.
The document claimed she had seen me transfer company files from Noah’s home office. If she signed it, Noah could use her testimony to support the allegation that I had manipulated financial records.
Paige stood when she saw me.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
“I came because I love you.”
“Dad loves me too.”
“I know you believe that.”
Her face tightened.
“He said you’re trying to take everything from us.”
“I’m trying to stop him from taking everything from the employees.”
“You always have an explanation.”
The words hurt because they were true.
For years, I explained away Noah’s absences, his anger, his contempt for people who could not help his career. I believed patience made me loyal.
It only made me useful.
I sat across from Paige.
“You don’t have to believe me today. But don’t sign something you didn’t witness.”
She looked down at the statement.
“Dad said families protect each other.”
“Protection that requires a lie is not protection.”
The conference-room door opened.
Noah stepped out with his attorney.
“You’re violating the temporary family-access agreement,” he said.
“There is no court order keeping me from my daughter.”
“There will be.”
Paige flinched at the word court.
Noah saw it and softened his voice.
“Sweetheart, sign the statement. Then we can go home.”
Paige picked up the pen.
I did not stop her.
She placed the tip against the paper, hesitated, then drew a line through every paragraph.
Noah’s face changed.
Paige reached into her backpack and removed a black sketchbook.
“I heard you and Grandma talking last night,” she said. “You thought I was asleep.”
She opened the book.
Page after page contained dates, times and exact sentences she had written down from their conversation.
One sentence was circled three times.
Once Vivian apologizes at the founders’ dinner, we move the pension assets overseas.
Noah reached for the sketchbook.
Paige pulled it against her chest.
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“Mom, what happened to Aunt Rebecca?”
