Chapter 5
Caleb stopped pretending.
That was almost a relief.
“You want the truth?” he asked. “Fine. Sarah found something eight years ago that could have destroyed the Bennett family.”
James stared at him.
“What?”
Caleb shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“You abused my daughter for six weeks over something you don’t know?”
“I questioned her.”
Emily’s face tightened.
Caleb barely glanced at her.
“She was fed.”
Ryan spoke before anyone else could.
“Not every day.”
Caleb turned sharply.
Ryan looked suddenly frightened, but the words were already out.
James stepped closer.
“How often?”
Ryan swallowed.
Linda snapped, “She was being dramatic. Pregnant women skip meals all the time.”
James looked at her.
“No.”
Linda faltered.
Emily wrapped both arms around herself.
“When I wouldn’t answer, they took dinner.”
Caleb exhaled impatiently.
“This is exactly why I kept you out of it. You would turn discipline into emotion.”
James stared at him.
“My daughter is bruised.”
“She married badly.”
Ryan looked at Caleb in disbelief.
Linda did too.
Caleb had just abandoned them.
James saw the realization spread across both faces.
Ryan stood despite the pain in his jaw.
“You told me this was for the family.”
“It was.”
“You said once we found the recording, James would understand.”
Caleb’s expression hardened.
“I said what you needed to hear.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
There it was.
The first fracture.
James let it widen.
“What recording?”
Ryan looked at Caleb.
Then James.
“Sarah’s.”
Caleb said nothing.
Ryan continued.
“Caleb thinks she recorded a conversation before she died.”
“What conversation?”
Ryan hesitated.
Caleb took one threatening step.
James’s bodyguards moved immediately.
Ryan saw them.
Then he answered.
“A conversation between Sarah and Caleb.”
James felt something cold settle in his chest.
“What were they discussing?”
Ryan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Emily spoke from the doorway.
“I do.”
May you like
Everyone turned.
“They were discussing why my mother was afraid to get into her car.”
