Chapter 3 - The Investigation
The next morning, the smell of seafood still lingered in my kitchen, a bitter reminder of the invasion. I threw the remaining crab shells into the trash, bleached the counters, and took a scalding shower. I had a high-pressure job as a senior financial analyst at a major corporate firm, and I couldn't afford to let my deadbeat father and my treacherous ex-friend ruin my Monday.
But Brianna wasn’t done with me.
At noon, my assistant buzzed my intercom. “Maya? There’s a woman here to see you. She says she’s your stepmother?”
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath to steady my racing heart. “Send her in.”
Brianna walked into my glass-walled office wearing oversized designer sunglasses and carrying a counterfeit Birkin bag. She looked around at the sleek, modern decor, the expensive art on the walls, and the panoramic view of the city. I saw the greed flash in her eyes. She thought Richard's money had bought me this life. She didn't realize I had built it with my own blood, sweat, and sleepless nights.
“What do you want, Brianna?” I asked, not looking up from my laptop.
She sighed, sitting in the leather chair opposite my desk. “Maya, we need to talk about yesterday. Richard is very upset with you. He’s talking about writing you off completely. But I told him I’d come smooth things over.”
“How generous of you,” I replied flatly.
“Look, I know it’s weird,” she leaned forward, dropping her voice. “But I love him. And Leo loves him. He’s a good father to Leo, Maya. The father he never was to you. You should be happy he’s finally stepping up.”
The psychological knife twisted perfectly in my gut, just as she intended. She knew my deepest insecurity—that I wasn't enough for my father to stay—and she weaponized it flawlessly.
“Why are you really here?” I demanded.
Brianna hesitated, then pulled out a glossy brochure. It was for an elite, ridiculously expensive private kindergarten in the city. “Richard’s assets are currently tied up in... offshore investments. We need to get Leo enrolled this week, and we are a little short on liquid cash. Since you’re his sister, and you’re clearly doing so well—”
“You want me to pay for your kid’s tuition.” I stared at her, genuinely astounded by the sheer audacity. “You married my father, broke into my house, and now you want me to fund your lifestyle?”
“It’s a loan!” Brianna snapped defensively. “Richard will pay you back double when his trust clears next month.”
When his trust clears. My mother’s words echoed in my mind. He’s bankrupt. Richard had lied to her. He was playing the wealthy businessman, and Brianna was playing the devoted young wife, both of them scamming each other.
“Leave the brochure,” I said softly, keeping my face completely neutral. “I’ll think about it.”
Brianna’s face lit up with a triumphant smirk. She thought she had won. “I knew you’d come around, bestie.”
As soon as she sashayed out of my office, I picked up the phone and called Liam, a private investigator I had hired a few times for deep corporate background checks.
“Liam, I need a favor. Completely off the books,” I said.
“Name it, Maya.”
“I need a full, invasive background check on a Brianna Hayes, currently going by Brianna Calloway. I want to know where she’s been for the last six years, her credit score, her eviction history, everything. And I need a deep dive on Richard Calloway's current financial status. I need hard proof of his debts.”
“Give me forty-eight hours,” Liam promised.
Two days later, Liam sat in my living room, spreading manila folders across my coffee table. The truth was uglier than I could have ever imagined.
“Your father is two million dollars in debt,” Liam explained, pointing to a stack of bank statements. “He’s leveraged everything. The cars are leased. The condo they’re staying in is an Airbnb he paid for with a maxed-out credit card. He’s weeks away from federal indictment for tax evasion.”
I sipped my wine, nodding. “And Brianna?”
Liam pulled out a separate folder, his expression grim. “Brianna has been busy. Three evictions in Florida. Two lawsuits for credit card fraud. She’s broke, Maya. But here’s the kicker.”
Liam slid a birth certificate across the table. It was Leo’s. The father’s name was left completely blank.
“I did some digging into her timeline,” Liam said. “Leo is exactly five years and two months old. Brianna reached out to your father on Facebook exactly five years and three months ago. She got pregnant by some random guy, realized she couldn't afford a kid, remembered your stories about your rich, gullible dad, and tracked him down.”
“She convinced him the kid was his,” I breathed, the pieces falling into place. “She used the kid to trap him.”
“Yep. And neither of them knows the other is dead broke,” Liam smirked. “What do you want to do with this information?”
May you like
I looked at the files. They had tried to break me. They had tried to steal my peace.
“I’m going to throw a family dinner,” I said, a dangerous smile touching my lips. “And I’m going to serve them both on a silver platter.”
