Chapter 2 - The Reason Megan Came Back
Megan got Helen out of the kitchen within five minutes.
She cleaned the older woman as gently as she could in the downstairs powder room, using warm washcloths and bottled water while Helen shook so hard her teeth clicked together. The smell of spoiled meat clung to everything.
Brianna remained in the kitchen at first, cursing under her breath as she wiped filth off her own face. But she did not come near them again.
She had heard the threat.
And she knew Megan wasn’t bluffing.
By the time Megan eased Helen into the passenger seat of her SUV, the older woman looked half-conscious from shock.
“We’re going to urgent care,” Megan said.
Helen caught her wrist weakly. “No police.”
“Mom—”
“Not yet.”
Megan swallowed her anger.
Helen had been Megan’s mother-in-law once. Then Megan’s husband, Noah, died in a highway crash four years earlier, and Helen became the only person in Noah’s family who still treated Megan like she belonged. Somewhere in the years after the funeral, mother-in-law had quietly turned into Mom.
That was why Megan had come the moment Helen called and whispered, “Please come now. Brianna’s angry.”
It was also why Megan had driven over already carrying suspicion in her gut.
The night before, Megan had stopped by the villa to drop off soup and flowers. Brianna had been upstairs arguing loudly on the phone, and a folder had slipped halfway out of the sideboard drawer. Megan had seen enough to know it mattered: overdue notices, a property appraisal, and a photocopy of Helen’s signature on something that looked painfully official.
She hadn’t taken the folder then.
But she had memorized the lender name.
On the drive to urgent care, Brianna called six times.
Megan ignored every one.
The seventh time, Helen whispered, “Put it on speaker.”
Megan did.
Brianna’s voice came sharp and breathless.
“You assaulted me.”
Megan laughed once in disbelief.
“You shoved an elderly woman into a floor covered in rotten meat.”
“She was being dramatic.”
“She was being tortured.”
There was a silence.
Then Brianna lowered her voice.
“If you make trouble, you’ll regret it.”
Helen closed her eyes.
Megan looked straight ahead.
“That depends,” she said coldly. “Will Grant regret learning what you’ve been doing with his mother’s name?”
Brianna hung up.
Helen turned her head slowly.
“What did you find?”
Megan tightened both hands on the wheel.
May you like
“Enough to know today wasn’t about anger,” she said. “It was about what she needs from you.”
And when Helen started crying again, Megan realized the older woman already knew exactly what that meant.
