Chapter 4 - THE SECRET KAYLA ALREADY KNEW
“You knew about Andrew’s inheritance?”
My question came out barely above a whisper.
Kayla answered too quickly.
“No.”
Andrew heard it too.
The lie.
He stepped closer.
“I never told anyone the amount.”
Kayla shrugged.
“I heard Amanda talking about it.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said.
Because I hadn’t known.
Andrew’s father had died the previous year.
The estate had been tangled in lawsuits involving two rental properties, an old construction partnership, and land Andrew assumed was nearly worthless.
Apparently, it wasn’t.
“How much?” I asked.
Andrew hesitated.
“Just over two million after taxes and debts.”
I stared at him.
Two million dollars.
Kayla stared too.
Except she didn’t look surprised.
She looked cornered.
Andrew noticed.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t.”
“You just reacted before I said the number.”
Kayla turned toward the house.
“I’m done being interrogated.”
Andrew stepped aside.
“Fine.”
She stopped.
His voice hardened.
“But you need to start packing.”
Kayla spun around.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“This isn’t your decision.”
I spoke before Andrew could.
“Yes, it is.”
Her face changed.
“Amanda—”
“You ignored me when I asked you to put on a robe.”
“It’s a towel.”
“You privately texted my husband.”
“I was testing him.”
“You followed him.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You knew something about his finances neither of us told you.”
That finally silenced her.
“You can stay tonight,” I said. “Tomorrow, we’ll help you find somewhere safe. After that, you are not living here.”
Tears filled her eyes instantly.
“You’re choosing him over your own sister?”
There it was.
The sentence designed to make me feel guilty.
I had heard versions of it our entire childhood.
I took a breath.
“I’m choosing my marriage and my boundaries. You don’t get to make me feel ashamed of that.”
Kayla grabbed her phone and stormed upstairs.
Ten minutes later, my mother called.
Not Kayla.
Mom.
I answered.
“Amanda, what on earth are you doing?”
I looked at Andrew.
That was fast.
“Kayla called you?”
“She’s hysterical.”
“She should probably tell you why.”
“She did.”
“Everything?”
Mom hesitated.
“That she wore a towel in front of Andrew.”
“And texted him privately.”
Silence.
“And followed him.”
More silence.
“And somehow knew about money Andrew inherited before I knew.”
Mom exhaled.
“Amanda, your sister is going through a difficult time.”
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
“You knew.”
“Amanda—”
“You knew she was testing him.”
Mom’s voice sharpened.
“I knew she had concerns.”
I almost laughed.
“Concerns?”
“After what happened with your father, you can’t blame her for wanting to know what kind of man Andrew really is.”
Andrew looked at me.
I gripped the phone.
“What does Dad have to do with this?”
Mom went silent.
Our father had died eight years earlier.
All my life, I had been told one simple story.
He left our family because he cheated.
Mom finally whispered:
“You were away at college when the worst of it happened.”
My heart started beating harder.
“What worst part?”
May you like
And then my mother said something I had never heard before.
“Kayla was the one who caught him.”
