Chapter 2
“I didn’t take it.”
Dad didn’t answer.
He stood beside the kitchen island staring at his phone.
I could still hear Vanessa’s car disappearing down the street.
“Dad.”
My voice shook.
“I swear I didn’t take your money.”
Grandma Pearl immediately moved beside me.
“Of course she didn’t.”
Dad finally looked up.
The shock in his eyes hurt worse than anger would have.
The transfer history showed six withdrawals.
All within three months.
The recipient was listed as a custodial savings account Dad had opened for me when Mom died.
Except I had never touched that account.
I didn’t even have the login information.
Dad knew that.
At least I thought he did.
“How much?” Grandma asked.
Dad swallowed.
“Forty-three thousand eight hundred.”
My chest tightened.
Grandma held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
“Mom—”
“Michael.”
Dad handed it over.
Grandma put on her glasses and inspected the transactions.
“Who controls Grace’s account?”
“I do.”
“Anyone else?”
Dad hesitated.
That tiny hesitation made me cold.
“Vanessa has access to household finances.”
Grandma looked up.
“There you go.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Yes, it is.”
Dad paced toward the window.
“The transfers were verified using Grace’s information.”
I stared at him.
“What information?”
“Your date of birth. Social Security number. Security questions.”
My stomach dropped.
Vanessa knew all of those things.
She had filled out school paperwork for me the previous year.
Grandma realized it too.
“You gave that woman access to Grace’s records?”
Dad rubbed his face.
“She’s my wife.”
Grandma’s expression could have cut steel.
“And Grace is your child.”
Dad flinched.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Then his phone rang.
Vanessa.
Dad answered immediately.
“Where is the money?”
She laughed softly.
I could hear her from several feet away.
“So now you want to talk?”
“Vanessa.”
“Are you still throwing me out?”
Grandma whispered, “Put it on speaker.”
Dad did.
Vanessa’s voice filled the kitchen.
“I warned you, Michael. Your precious daughter has been stealing from us.”
“That’s impossible.”
I looked at Dad.
He had said it.
Not maybe.
Not I don’t know.
Impossible.
For the first time since seeing the transfers, I could breathe.
Vanessa became silent.
Dad continued.
“Grace didn’t have access to that account.”
“She figured it out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Teenagers know technology.”
Grandma laughed once.
“What an embarrassingly stupid lie.”
Vanessa snapped.
“Stay out of my marriage, Pearl!”
Grandma stepped closer to the phone.
“You destroyed my dead daughter’s ornaments and framed my granddaughter for theft. I’m already in it.”
The line went quiet.
Dad stared at Grandma.
“You think she framed Grace?”
Grandma’s eyes narrowed.
“I think your wife accidentally told us more than she intended.”
“How?”
“She knew exactly which account to tell you to check.”
Dad froze.
So did I.
Vanessa immediately said, “Because I found the transfers!”
“When?”
Grandma asked.
“Yesterday.”
“And you didn’t tell your husband that forty-three thousand dollars was missing?”
“I was investigating.”
Grandma smiled without humor.
“No. You were waiting.”
Vanessa hung up.
Dad stood motionless.
I looked at him.
“What happens now?”
“We call the bank.”
Within an hour, Dad had reported the transfers as fraud.
The bank froze everything.
Then he called the police.
That surprised me.
Maybe Vanessa had expected him to blame me.
Maybe she thought years of slowly turning Dad against me had worked.
She was wrong.
But our problems were only beginning.
At nearly nine that night, someone pounded on the door.
Dad opened it.
Vanessa stood outside.
Her sister, Amanda, was beside her.
And behind them were two police officers.
Vanessa had a red mark across her wrist.
“She assaulted me,” Vanessa said, pointing at Grandma.
Dad looked stunned.
“What?”
“She grabbed me before I left.”
Grandma rose from the sofa.
“I never touched you.”
Vanessa lifted her wrist.
“You did.”
One officer looked toward Grandma.
“Ma’am, can we speak with you?”
I felt sick.
Vanessa had come prepared.
She gave a tearful story about Grandma threatening her, destroying her property, and attacking her.
The gingerbread house was real evidence.
The broken mess was still on our kitchen floor.
“She shoved it deliberately,” Vanessa cried.
Grandma nodded.
“I absolutely did.”
“Mom,” Dad muttered.
Grandma shrugged.
“I’m seventy-two, not dishonest.”
One officer almost smiled.
Vanessa pointed toward me.
“And Grace has been stealing money.”
“That’s under investigation,” Dad said sharply.
Vanessa stared at him.
“You’re defending her?”
“I’m stating a fact.”
Something flashed in her eyes.
She had expected Dad to crumble.
Instead he stepped beside me.
The officers took statements.
Nobody arrested Grandma.
The red mark on Vanessa’s wrist proved nothing.
But they warned everyone to stay separated.
When Vanessa demanded entry into the house, Dad refused.
“This is your legal residence,” one officer explained, “so unless there’s a court order—”
“She can come in,” Dad interrupted.
My heart sank.
Then Dad finished.
“For ten minutes. She can collect what she needs tonight. I’ll stay with her.”
Vanessa smiled at me as she entered.
It wasn’t a victory smile.
It was a promise.
She walked upstairs.
Dad followed.
Grandma took my hand.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“I am.”
“I know.”
Ten minutes later, Vanessa came back downstairs carrying a suitcase.
She stopped beside me.
“I hope you enjoy your little victory.”
I said nothing.
She leaned closer.
“Christmas is going to be unforgettable.”
Dad stepped between us.
“Leave.”
Vanessa walked out.
That night Grandma slept in my room.
I couldn’t close my eyes.
At 2:13 a.m., my phone buzzed.
An email.
The subject line read:
ACCOUNT RECOVERY CONFIRMATION.
I sat upright.
Someone had tried to reset the password to my school email.
Thirty seconds later, another notification appeared.
Then another.
My cloud storage.
My social media.
My college application portal.
Someone was trying to access everything.
Grandma woke as I gasped.
“What?”
I showed her.
She stared at the screen.
Then another email arrived.
This one contained a successful login notification.
Location unknown.
Device unrecognized.
Grandma immediately called Dad.
But before he entered my room, something else appeared on my screen.
A photograph.
It showed me standing outside a jewelry store at the mall.
The message underneath said:
TELL YOUR FATHER WHY YOU WERE REALLY THERE.
My hands started shaking.
Because I had never been inside that jewelry store.
But the photograph had been edited perfectly enough to make it look like I had.
And suddenly I understood.
May you like
The stolen money wasn’t Vanessa’s only plan.
She had been building a case against me for months.
