Chapter 8 - The Family Secret
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Through the formal discovery process initiated by Claire's office, we subpoenaed the bank communications, text logs, and wire transfer memos associated with Lucas, Liam, and their mother, Susan.
What we uncovered in those subpoenaed text threads was far darker than I could have ever imagined.
Three months before Brandon threw my mother out of the apartment, a group chat existed between Brandon, his brother Lucas, and his mother Susan.
Lucas: Hey man, the contractor needs another $12,000 for the plumbing install on the duplex by Friday. Can you move it over?
Brandon: Yeah, I'll transfer it tonight after Elena goes to sleep. She was checking the statements last week so I have to be careful with the memos.
Susan: Don't tell her anything, Brandon. She worries way too much about every little penny. Just tell her the money went to my medical bills if she asks.
My hands began to shake as I read Susan's words. Susan—the woman I had taken three weeks of unpaid leave to care for after her knee surgery. The woman I brought homemade soup to every weekend.
Then came a text from Lucas:
Lucas: Is she going to notice the missing $35k from the Apex account?
And the response from Brandon's mother, Susan, left me utterly breathless:
Susan: Who cares? She earns more than Brandon at the hospital anyway. She'll replace it in a few months. Family comes first.
"She'll replace it," I whispered, repeating the words out loud in the quiet office. "They treated me like a human cash register."
"They didn't see you as a wife, Elena," Claire said gently, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "They saw you as an unpaid utility. A high-earning asset that Brandon controlled for the benefit of the Morgan family."
Tears finally welled up in my eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of pure, burning rage.
All those years of sacrificing my own comfort, skipping vacations, driving an old car, and feeling guilty whenever I bought myself a new pair of nursing shoes... it was all being quietly harvested by a family of parasites who mocked me behind my back.
"Claire," I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks and looking her dead in the eyes. "I don't want just half of the remaining money back."
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"What do you want, Elena?"
"I want every single dollar they stole from my future," I said coldly. "And I want that duplex."
