“I’m leaving,” he said.
Dad stood between him and the door.
“No,” Dad said.
Daniel stopped.
Dad’s face was gray. “You lied to all of us.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You used my daughter’s name.”
Daniel looked at Mom. “You knew I was struggling.”
“I knew you said you were struggling,” she replied. Her voice broke on the second word. “I did not know you were stealing.”
Chelsea stood beside the table with the tablet in both hands. She looked at Daniel with a stillness that frightened me more than tears had.
“You told me she hated me.”
He said nothing.
“You told me no one would understand us.”
“Chelsea.”
“You told me I was the first person who ever saw you.”
His mouth opened.
Chelsea threw the tablet onto the table. It struck the wood with a crack.
“You made me hurt her because you knew I would believe you.”
Daniel’s expression hardened then. Not grief. Not guilt. Annoyance.
“You were unhappy too,” he said.
Chelsea recoiled as if he had struck her.
He looked at me. “And you are not innocent, Haley. You ignored me for years. You decided this house, this job, this perfect little life mattered more than what I needed.”
I took one step toward him.
“What you needed was honesty. You chose lies because lies made you feel powerful.”
The doorbell rang.
No one moved.
It rang again.
On the front porch stood two police officers and a woman in a charcoal suit carrying a leather briefcase.
Daniel went completely still.
The woman looked at me. “Mrs. Ward? I am attorney Nina Patel. You contacted my office this morning. I asked officers to attend because your email included apparent financial fraud.”
