Chapter 5 - THE WOLF AT THE DOOR
The doorbell rang again. It sounded less like a request and more like a demand.
Megan lunged toward the door, her panic evident. “I’ll handle this. Let me just talk to him. If we explain—”
“No,” I said, my voice cracking through the room like a whip.
Megan stopped in her tracks.
I turned to Kevin. “Take Leo upstairs. Check on Lucy. Lock the bedroom door.”
“Mom, I can’t leave you down here with him,” Kevin protested, wiping his eyes. “This is my fault. I have to face him.”
“You will face him,” I said, looking at my son with a fierceness I hadn’t felt in five long years. “When we are ready. Right now, your children need you. Go.”
Kevin hesitated, but he saw the unyielding resolve in my eyes. He nodded, scooped Leo into his arms, and hurried up the stairs.
I turned back to Megan. She was trembling, her hands hovering near her face.
“You stay exactly where you are,” I told her. “Do not say a word.”
I walked to the front door. I didn’t peek through the peephole. I unlocked the deadbolt, turned the handle, and pulled the door wide open.
David Vance stood on the porch. He was sixty years old, with silver hair, a deep tan, and a smile that never quite reached his cold, calculating eyes. He wore a navy cashmere overcoat that probably cost more than my first car.
On his left wrist, peeking out from his cuff, was a gold Rolex.
Robert’s gold Rolex. The one that had mysteriously gone missing the week he died.
My stomach twisted with revulsion, but I kept my posture ramrod straight.
“Carol,” Vance said, his fake smile widening. He didn’t seem surprised to see me, even though it was nearly midnight. “It’s been a long time. You’re looking… well.”
His eyes flicked over my simple blouse and slacks, a silent judgment comparing me to his wealth.
“What do you want, David?” I asked, blocking the doorway.
He chuckled, a slick, patronizing sound. “I was actually hoping to speak with Megan. And Kevin, of course. A little late-night business matter.”
“Kevin isn’t available,” I said. “And neither is his wife’s money.”
Vance’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but he quickly recovered. “I see the family has been talking. Good. Communication is key. May I come in?”
He stepped forward, expecting me to move aside.
I didn’t budge. “No, you may not.”
His eyes narrowed. The charming facade began to slip. “Carol, be reasonable. I have a very lucrative partnership with your daughter-in-law. I’m here to finalize some paperwork. It’s for their own good.”
“You mean the fifty thousand dollars she wired you?” I asked plainly.
Megan gasped behind me. Vance’s eyes darted over my shoulder to where she stood in the foyer.
“Megan,” Vance called out smoothly. “Tell your mother-in-law that adults are conducting business.”
Megan took a shaky step forward. “David… Kevin knows about the transfer. He… he’s angry.”
Vance sighed, putting on a theatrical display of disappointment. “Well, that’s unfortunate. But a wire transfer is a wire transfer, Megan. The funds are already locked into the development escrow. If Kevin tries to pull them out now, the penalty fees will eat the entire principal. I’m here to help you navigate that.”
“Liar,” I said.
Vance looked back at me, his jaw tightening. “Excuse me?”
“There is no development,” I said, my voice steady. “You needed that fifty thousand to cover a margin call, didn’t you, David? Or maybe a silent settlement? You’ve been bleeding cash ever since Robert stopped covering your tracks.”
Vance’s face went rigid. The charming businessman vanished, replaced by the predator Robert had died trying to protect us from.
“You’re out of your depth, Carol,” Vance hissed, stepping so close I could smell the scotch on his breath. “Your husband was a weak man. He folded the second things got tough. You don’t want to pick a fight with me. I still have the Southside purchase orders.”
He thought that would break me. He thought the mention of his blackmail would send me cowering.
Instead, I reached into the pocket of my cardigan.
I pulled out the blue leather ledger and held it up right in front of his face.
Vance’s eyes locked onto it. The color drained from his tan face so fast he looked ill.
“I know about the purchase orders, David,” I said softly. “I know Kevin signed them when he was a teenager. I know Robert took the blame.”
I tapped the cover of the ledger.
“But I also know what’s in here. I know about the shell companies. The forged safety inspections. The three hundred thousand you routed through offshore accounts. And Thomas, Robert’s paralegal? He’s currently holding the certified bank records.”
Vance swallowed hard. His eyes couldn't leave the ledger. “You’re bluffing.”
“Try me,” I said. “By tomorrow morning, this ledger goes to the district attorney. The statute of limitations on corporate fraud hasn't expired. And neither has the one for extortion.”
Vance stared at me. For the first time in five years, the man who had ruined my life looked terrified.
He slowly backed away, down the first porch step. “If you go to the cops, Kevin goes to prison for signing those orders. You’ll destroy your own son.”
I smiled. It was a sad, tired smile, but it was real.
“Kevin was nineteen,” I said. “He was an unpaid intern who signed where his boss told him to. The DA will see it for exactly what it was. Kevin might face a fine. He might face probation. But you, David? You’re going to die in a cell.”
Vance pointed a trembling finger at me. “This isn’t over, Carol.”
He turned and practically ran to his luxury sedan parked by the curb. The tires squealed as he sped away into the night.
I closed the front door and locked the deadbolt.
When I turned around, Megan was staring at me as if I had just grown ten feet tall.
“You just threatened David Vance,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “He’ll destroy us.”
“No,” I said, walking past her into the living room. “He’s running. He’s going to try to flee the state before tomorrow morning. Which means your fifty thousand dollars is gone, Megan.”
Megan let out a sob and sank onto the bottom step of the staircase, burying her face in her hands. “I’ve ruined everything. I just wanted us to be wealthy. I just wanted to be comfortable.”
I looked down at her. Five years ago, I would have comforted her. I would have made her tea and told her we would fix it.
But I wasn't the same woman anymore.
“You wanted to be wealthy without doing the work,” I said quietly. “And you were willing to sacrifice my husband’s memory to get it.”
Megan looked up, her makeup running down her face. “What are you going to do to me, Carol?”
Before I could answer, I heard a creak from the stairs above her.
May you like
I looked up. Kevin was standing on the landing. He had heard everything. And in his hand, he held a packed duffel bag.
“She isn’t going to do anything to you, Megan,” Kevin said, his voice completely hollow. “Because you don’t live here anymore.”
