Chapter 8 - MIA COMES HOME
Mia arrived just after midnight.
She looked nothing like the woman who had laughed at me in Chicago.
Her cream coat was wrinkled. Her makeup had worn away. She carried one suitcase and hugged herself against the Seattle rain.
Margaret opened the door.
Mia stepped inside and immediately started crying.
“Mom.”
Margaret did not hug her.
Not yet.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Did Kevin hurt you?”
“No.”
“Threaten you?”
“He said he’d ruin me.”
Richard stood behind us.
“That depends on what you did.”
Mia flinched.
I stayed near the staircase.
She saw me.
Her face collapsed.
“Emily.”
I said nothing.
“I’m sorry.”
Still nothing.
“I was awful.”
“Yes.”
The word landed harder than yelling.
She nodded.
“I know.”
Leah had insisted Mia speak with independent counsel before giving details about company finances. Richard arranged a hotel for her attorney, a criminal-and-employment specialist named Claire Song, who arrived at seven the next morning with a legal pad and a warning.
“My client will not answer questions about company transactions until we understand her exposure.”
Richard looked like he wanted to argue.
He did not.
Mia sat at the table twisting a paper napkin.
Claire allowed her to speak about family events separate from finances.
That was enough to hurt.
“The train idea was Kevin’s,” Mia said.
“What idea?” Margaret asked.
“To make Emily lose her temper.”
I kept my face still.
Mia continued.
“He said she’d been suspicious and he needed to control the divorce story before she confronted him.”
“Control it how?” I asked.
“He wanted video of you screaming.”
“I know.”
She looked ashamed.
“He said if we made the trip uncomfortable, you’d snap.”
“Why did you agree?”
Mia cried silently for a few seconds.
“Because he promised me his division when Dad retired.”
Richard’s voice was flat.
“I never planned to retire this year.”
“I know that now.”
“You believed Kevin could give you my company?”
“He said the board was moving toward him.”
“The board does not belong to him.”
“I know.”
Margaret stared at her daughter.
“You humiliated a pregnant woman for a title.”
Mia looked down.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That mattered.
Not enough.
But it mattered.
“What did you know about Sabrina?” I asked.
“Almost everything.”
My throat tightened.
“You helped them meet.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You sat in my kitchen and drank tea while I complained Kevin was working late.”
Mia covered her face.
“Yes.”
I stood.
Margaret reached toward me, but I shook my head.
“I need air.”
Outside, the rain had stopped.
The terrace smelled like wet cedar.
I gripped the railing and breathed slowly.
The baby kicked.
“Hey,” I whispered. “I know.”
The door opened behind me.
Mia stepped out.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said.
“I know.”
“Then go back inside.”
“I need to tell you something before Kevin gets here.”
I turned.
She looked terrified.
“What?”
“The condo wasn’t just for Sabrina.”
I waited.
“Kevin used it for meetings with vendors.”
“Company vendors?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of meetings?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
She took a breath.
“Kevin created consulting contracts for companies that barely existed. They billed Prescott Holdings for market research, relocation, branding. Some of the money came back through other LLCs.”
My stomach dropped.
“You signed invoices.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know they were fake?”
“Not at first.”
“And later?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because by then my signature was already on things. Kevin said if I stopped, he’d tell Dad it was my scheme.”
I stared at her.
“You’re afraid of losing your job.”
“I’m afraid of prison.”
The honesty shocked me.
“You need to tell your lawyer.”
“I did.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because Kevin used your money too.”
My heart thudded.
“The hundred and forty-two thousand?”
“He told Sabrina it was a temporary loan from you.”
“I never agreed.”
“I know.”
“He forged something?”
Mia swallowed.
“I saw a document with your signature.”
My hands went cold.
“What document?”
“A spousal consent form authorizing investment in the condo LLC.”
“I never signed that.”
“I know.”
“Where is it?”
“Kevin kept copies in a black folder in his office.”
“Chicago?”
“No. His office here.”
At Prescott Holdings.
I went inside and told Leah.
Then Leah told Richard not to touch the folder.
Corporate counsel arranged a documented retrieval with two witnesses.
By noon, we had it.
My forged signature stared up at me from page three.
It looked almost perfect.
Almost.
Kevin always forgot that I put a tiny break in the E of Emily because my mother taught me cursive that way.
The forged E was smooth.
Leah photographed it.
“Do not write on this. Do not handle it more than necessary.”
Richard looked ill.
“Is this enough to call police?”
Claire, Mia’s lawyer, answered carefully.
“It is enough to preserve and refer to appropriate authorities. Let investigators decide what it proves.”
Margaret sat very still.
“My children.”
Mia began crying again.
Richard looked at her.
“You made choices.”
“I know.”
“You do not get to hide behind your brother.”
“I know.”
“You may lose your job.”
“I know.”
“You may face legal consequences.”
“I know.”
Then Richard’s voice broke.
“And I still love you.”
Mia looked up.
That was when Margaret hugged her.
Not as forgiveness.
As a mother.
I turned away.
The moment was theirs.
My own phone buzzed.
Kevin.
Another number.
Train gets in at 6:20. Be at the house.
I handed it to Leah.
She read it.
Then looked at the clock.
Five hours.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“No.”
“Good. Ready is overrated.”
“What happens when he walks in?”
Leah closed her folder.
“He gets served.”
“And after that?”
I looked toward the front windows.
For the first time, the answer did not frighten me.
“After that,” I said, “he gets to hear no.”
Before we went inside, Mia stopped me one last time. “I know this sounds selfish, but I keep thinking about the station in Chicago. You were standing there with your hand on your stomach and I laughed.”
I looked at her.
“I remember.”
“I wish I could take that back.”
“You can’t.”
She nodded, tears gathering again.
“What you can do is remember why it was funny to you then.”
Her face tightened. “Because making you smaller made me feel bigger.”
“That’s the part you need to fix. Not for me. For you.”
She wiped her cheek. “I’m trying.”
May you like
“Then keep trying after nobody is watching.”
That was the first time Mia did not promise she would change. She simply went back inside, found her lawyer, and kept talking. Somehow, that felt more believable than another apology.
