Chapter 14- THE VOICE ON THE RECORDER
Investigators copied the files from the recorder before allowing Maya to hear them.
The first recordings were business meetings. Brian promised impossible returns while Donna reassured relatives that the investments were “protected by family property.”
The fourth file had been recorded the morning of the dinner.
Donna’s voice filled Maya’s conference room.
“She’ll sign if everyone is watching.”
Brian answered, “Emily already said no.”
“Then make her understand what refusing will cost.”
“What if she leaves?”
“She won’t embarrass herself in front of the family.”
A chair scraped across the recording.
Brian lowered his voice.
“Lily has a fever.”
“Children get fevers.”
“Emily might take her home.”
“Lock the front door until the papers are signed.”
I pressed both hands against the table.
Maya paused the audio.
“You don’t have to continue today.”
“Yes, I do.”
The recording resumed.
Brian asked, “What if she calls someone?”
Donna laughed softly.
“Who? Her brother? Evan already thinks she should leave you. She won’t call him because she knows he’ll say I told you so.”
That was the one phone call Donna believed I would never make.
The call that brought Evan to the hospital.
The call that led him to examine Brian’s business.
The call that eventually exposed everything.
At the end of the recording, Donna said, “Once Emily signs, the house covers the next round. After that, we move the money and nobody loses anything.”
She had known my father’s house was being used.
She had known my signature was forged.
And when Lily became dangerously ill, Donna had viewed her as an inconvenience delaying a financial transaction.
Maya turned off the recorder.
“This is no longer just evidence against her visitation petition.”
“What happens now?”
“The securities investigator reopens the case.”
I thought I would feel relief.
May you like
Instead, I remembered Brian’s warning.
Donna would do something reckless before she allowed the truth into court.
