Chapter 6 - Why Melanie Married BrandonMelanie asked to speak.
Brandon refused at first.
Then Detective Bell explained that her attorney had arranged a proffer session with prosecutors.
She was not receiving immunity.
She was offering information.
Brandon attended only because Melissa recommended it.
Melanie looked different without control.
No carefully arranged hair.
No polished expression.
No soft voice.
She looked tired.
She looked angry.
And strangely relieved.
“I didn’t marry you for your money,” she said.
Brandon almost laughed.
“That’s your opening?”
“It’s true.”
“You terrorized Parker over forty-one million dollars in stock.”
Her eyes dropped.
“What I did to Parker was wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“I’m not minimizing it.”
“You sprayed an eight-year-old in the face and threatened him.”
Melanie’s voice cracked.
“I know.”
“You don’t get to say you know.”
She nodded.
“You’re right.”
Brandon hated that answer because it left him nowhere to push.
Detective Bell intervened.
“Explain Nathan.”
Melanie looked at Brandon.
“My brother believed Grant was stealing from Hawthorne.”
“Through property valuations.”
“Yes.”
“Nathan told Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Grant threatened him.”
“With what?”
“Fraud charges.”
Brandon frowned.
“Nathan was the whistleblower.”
“Grant made it look like Nathan manipulated expense accounts.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Nathan sent me everything.”
Melanie looked toward the flash drive.
“He knew something might happen.”
Brandon felt cold.
“You knew Nathan was in trouble.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He disappeared.”
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“They interviewed Grant. He showed them emails implying Nathan was unstable and stealing.”
“Were they real?”
“Some. Edited.”
Brandon looked toward Bell.
The detective nodded.
“We’re examining metadata.”
Melanie continued.
“I spent two years trying to prove it.”
“And then you met me.”
“Yes.”
“Accidentally?”
Melanie said nothing.
Brandon laughed bitterly.
“So our entire marriage began as an investigation.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
“I wanted access.”
“To what?”
“Rachel’s files.”
“Then why stay?”
Melanie looked at him.
“Because I fell in love with you.”
Brandon’s expression hardened.
“Do not say that.”
“It’s true.”
“You abused my son.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“I know what that makes me.”
“Then don’t use love as an excuse.”
She nodded.
Again.
Brandon hated her calm acceptance.
“Where does Grant fit now?”
Melanie took a breath.
“Two years ago, I found evidence that Nathan didn’t disappear because Grant killed him.”
Brandon leaned forward.
“What?”
“I think Nathan ran.”
“Why?”
“Because Rachel helped him.”
Silence.
Brandon stared.
“My wife?”
Melanie nodded.
“She moved money through an attorney trust account. Twenty-five thousand dollars. The same week Nathan vanished.”
Brandon shook his head.
“Rachel would have told me.”
“Would she?”
The question landed harder than he expected.
Rachel had hidden her investigation.
Maybe because she did not trust Brandon’s relationship with Grant.
Maybe because Brandon had defended him.
Melanie continued.
“I began to think Nathan was alive.”
“So you stayed close to me.”
“To find Rachel’s records.”
“And Grant?”
“He found out who I was.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“How?”
“He saw an old photograph.”
“What did he do?”
“He offered me a deal.”
Brandon’s hands clenched.
“What deal?”
“Help him restructure Parker’s shares. In return, he would give me the location of a safe account Nathan supposedly used.”
Brandon stared at her.
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to find my brother.”
“You used Parker.”
Melanie’s face collapsed.
“Yes.”
“And when he interfered?”
“I started convincing you he was unstable.”
Brandon felt physically sick.
“School reports.”
“I exaggerated things to the counselor.”
“Broken tablet?”
“I told the teacher Parker admitted it when he hadn’t.”
“Pushing Liam?”
“I told them he had aggression after losing Rachel.”
“Boarding school?”
Melanie looked down.
“Yes.”
Brandon stood.
He could not sit near her anymore.
“You were going to remove my son from his home so you could search through his dead mother’s finances.”
“I told myself it would be temporary.”
Brandon laughed once.
“Interesting.”
Melanie looked up.
“What?”
“That’s exactly what people say when they know something is evil but want to keep doing it.”
She cried silently.
Brandon turned toward the door.
Detective Bell stopped him.
“There’s more.”
Brandon looked back.
Bell opened a folder.
“Melanie gave us account numbers Grant claimed belonged to Nathan.”
“And?”
“One account is active.”
Brandon’s heart accelerated.
“Meaning?”
“A withdrawal was made eleven days ago.”
Melanie stood.
“Where?”
“Vancouver.”
Her face went white.
“Nathan?”
“We don’t know.”
Brandon looked at her.
For the first time, Melanie’s fear had nothing to do with being caught.
It was hope.
Dangerous hope.
Then Bell added:
“The withdrawal was followed by a transfer to a U.S. account.”
“Whose?” Melissa asked.
May you like
Detective Bell looked directly at Brandon.
“Evelyn Hawthorne.”
Related Stories
