Chapter 11 - MY MOTHER CAME FOR LEO
Wendy arrived at Jessi’s house at 8:13 the next morning.
She brought Martin Kessler.
Of course she did.
Jessi saw them through the window and went pale.
“I don’t want her inside.”
“She won’t come inside.”
I opened the door and stepped onto the porch.
Mom looked past me.
“I want to see my grandson.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“Ivan.”
“You don’t get to use his name now.”
“I am his grandmother.”
“You spent seven years making sure I didn’t know he existed.”
“That was between adults.”
“No. That was about him.”
Martin stepped forward.
“We should keep this civil.”
I laughed.
“You forged a hospital records request.”
His face changed slightly.
“I have no idea what you’re referring to.”
“My attorney does.”
Mom’s confidence flickered.
Then she said:
“Jessi took money from me.”
“No.”
“I have bank records.”
“So do we.”
I held up the copy Rachel sent.
The fraudulent account had been opened using Jessi’s name and an address she never lived at.
The authorized secondary contact was:
CHLOE STERLING.
My younger sister.
I hadn’t spoken to Chloe in three months.
Mom froze.
That reaction told me she knew.
“Why is Chloe on the account?”
“She was young.”
“Why?”
“Ivan—”
“Why?”
Martin interrupted.
“This conversation is over.”
“No.”
Mom looked suddenly exhausted.
“Chloe helped me open the account.”
“For Jessi?”
“She thought it was part of a settlement.”
“Did Jessi ever touch the money?”
“No.”
There it was.
The truth.
Mom had created a record that looked like Jessi accepted a payoff.
Another future weapon.
If Jessi resurfaced, Wendy could say:
She took the money.
She chose to disappear.
She sold your son.
I felt physically sick.
Behind me, the front door opened.
Leo stood beside Jessi.
“Mom?”
Wendy saw him.
Everything in her face changed.
For one second, she looked human.
He looked so much like me at seven.
My mother whispered:
“Oh.”
Leo moved closer to Jessi.
Wendy stepped forward.
I blocked her.
“You do not approach him.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Ivan, please.”
“No.”
“Just let me—”
“No.”
Leo whispered to Jessi:
“Is that his mom?”
Jessi nodded.
Wendy heard.
She began crying.
Maybe she finally understood what she had done.
Or maybe she simply hated being outside the door.
Then my sister’s car pulled into the driveway.
Chloe jumped out before it fully stopped.
“Mom!”
Wendy turned.
Chloe was crying and carrying a laptop.
“I told him.”
Mom’s face went white.
“Told him what?”
Chloe looked at me.
“Everything I know.”
She handed me the laptop.
“There are emails.”
“What emails?”
“Mom’s.”
Wendy took one step backward.
Chloe continued:
“She told me the fake account was temporary.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Why keep the emails?”
“Because eventually I realized she lied to me too.”
I opened the first message.
From Wendy.
To Chloe.
Subject:
JESSI.
One line stood out.
Once Ivan comes home, we tell him she chose the money over him.
At the bottom Wendy had written:
By then the child will know another life, and it will be too late to undo anything.
May you like
For the first time, my mother could no longer claim she had been protecting me.
She had planned my son’s absence.
