Chapter 6 - Margaret Finally Admitted the Payment
Ryan went directly to his mother.
Margaret lived in a guest residence on the north side of Hawthorne Ridge, close enough to the main house that Noah could visit easily.
That arrangement suddenly felt impossible.
Ryan put Noah with Hannah for the afternoon and knocked on Margaret’s door.
She opened it before his second knock.
“You spoke to Rosa.”
It wasn’t a question.
Ryan stepped inside.
“You were driving.”
Margaret sat down slowly.
“Yes.”
Ryan had imagined Victor behind the wheel so many times that the answer almost didn’t register.
“You hit the gate?”
“Yes.”
“Rosa?”
“I didn’t hit Rosa.”
“She fell getting away from you.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Ryan remained standing.
“Were you drunk?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Margaret rubbed her hands together.
“I had taken a prescription sleep medication.”
Ryan stared at her.
“You drove after taking it?”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Then the hospital called.
Hannah’s labor had become complicated.
Ryan was scared.
Margaret heard the fear in her son’s voice.
She panicked.
“I wanted to get to you.”
“So you drove.”
“Yes.”
She barely made it down the service road.
Her reactions were slow.
She misjudged the curve.
She struck the gate.
Victor and Derek had been outside near the garage and reached her before anyone else.
“Why forty thousand dollars?”
Margaret looked toward the window.
“Victor said he would keep quiet.”
Ryan felt something shift.
“He demanded money?”
“At first he said he was helping.”
Victor offered to say he had borrowed the SUV.
Derek moved the damaged vehicle into the equipment barn before the contractor arrived.
Margaret allowed the maintenance claim to describe the damage as involving estate equipment rather than her driving.
Then Victor wanted money.
“He said if I didn’t pay him, he’d tell you everything while Hannah was still in the hospital.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“So he blackmailed you.”
Margaret swallowed.
“Yes.”
“And you paid him.”
“Yes.”
Ryan could barely believe the next question was necessary.
“Why didn’t you tell me afterward?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Because I had already lied.”
That was the real answer.
Not Noah.
Not Hannah.
Not protecting Ryan.
Shame.
Once Margaret crossed the first line, every later choice became about preventing the first one from being seen.
Ryan paced once across the room.
“Then why did you ever let Victor back?”
Margaret said nothing.
Ryan stopped.
“He kept threatening you.”
She nodded.
At Christmas.
At family dinners.
Whenever Margaret tried to cut him off.
Victor reminded her he had messages, payment records, and Derek.
Ryan thought about how Victor had laughed with Noah between moving cars.
The arrogance.
The certainty that no one would stop him.
May you like
His mother had taught Victor something for nine months.
That if he frightened her enough, there would always be another exception.
