Chapter 5 - The Message That Changed EverythingI called my mother before I could talk myself out of it.
“Why was your phone number attached to the email account used to contact the title company?”
She didn't ask which account I meant.
That was answer enough.
“Olivia asked me to help set it up,” she said quietly. “She said she needed a separate email address for the paperwork because your regular account was difficult to access.”
“My regular account is not difficult to access. I have the password.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you help her?”
“Because she told me you'd agreed to everything.”
I closed my eyes.
“Mom, I need you to understand what I'm asking. Did you know she was pretending to be me?”
“No. I thought she was preparing documents for you to review.”
“Did you give her my personal information?”
Another silence.
“Some of it,” she admitted. “Your address, the property details, the date you bought the house. She already knew most of it.”
I felt anger rise, sharp and clean.
“Did you give her copies of my identification?”
“No.”
“Did you give her access to any of my accounts?”
“No, Becca. I swear.”
I wanted to believe her. But belief had become a luxury I could no longer afford.
“Please send Daniel every message Olivia sent you,” I said. “Don't delete anything, even if you're embarrassed by it.”
“I will.”
“And Mom? Don't warn Olivia that we're doing this.”
She began to cry again.
“I don't want to lose my daughter.”
I looked out at the snow-covered trees.
“Neither do I. But you can't save Olivia by helping her hurt me.”
After we hung up, I called Daniel. He arranged for the title company to preserve its communications and confirmed that the suspicious email had not resulted in a transfer. We also began the process of formally revoking my mother's authority over any matters connected to the property.
I wasn't trying to punish Mom. I was protecting the boundary she had helped someone cross.
By lunchtime, I had received a message from Jason.
Can we talk? Just the two of us. Olivia doesn't know I'm reaching out.
I stared at it for several minutes before replying.
About what?
His answer came immediately.
The thirty thousand dollars.
We met that afternoon at a small café in Silverton, where the windows were fogged from the heat and the sidewalks outside were buried under fresh snow. Jason arrived ten minutes late, wearing the same dark green jacket he'd worn at the party. He looked exhausted.
“I know you hate me right now,” he began.
“I don't know you well enough to hate you.”
He gave a humorless laugh.
“That's fair.”
He ordered coffee, then sat with both hands wrapped around the cup.
“Olivia told me your mother had agreed to help us buy the lodge.”
“Buy it from whom?”
“From you. She said you wanted to sell it to family at a discount.”
“I never offered to sell it.”
“I know that now.”
“Why did you stand in my living room and thank me for coming to celebrate your purchase?”
His face reddened.
“Because I thought it was true.”
I studied him. He seemed ashamed, but shame alone wasn't proof of honesty.
“Tell me about the money.”
He looked toward the window.
“Our company lost two major contracts last year. We borrowed to cover payroll, expecting the contracts to renew. They didn't. By autumn, we were behind on several payments.”
“Does Olivia know how serious the situation is?”
“She knows enough.”
“And the thirty thousand?”
“Her mother-in-law—your mother—gave it to Olivia. She told me it was a family loan to help us get the lodge.”
“Did you receive it?”
He nodded.
“Every dollar went into our business account. We used it to pay overdue invoices and keep our employees from missing another paycheck.”
I felt a complicated surge of anger and sympathy. The employees hadn't forged anything. They hadn't stood in my house and lied to my relatives. Yet their livelihoods had become part of a plan built on my property.
“Did you know the money was supposed to be a deposit on my lodge?”
“I believed Olivia had your agreement.”
“Did you ever see a contract signed by me?”
“No.”
“Then why didn't you ask?”
He rubbed his face.
“Because I wanted to believe her. Because I was scared of losing everything. Because every time I asked questions, she told me you had already agreed and that you were just being difficult about the details.”
“And you accepted that?”
“I did.”
The honesty in his answer made it harder to dismiss him.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
He reached into his jacket and placed a small envelope on the table.
Inside was a printed bank statement showing the transfer from my mother to Olivia. Beneath it was a copy of a text exchange between him and my sister.
One message from Olivia read:
Once the paperwork is accepted, Becca won't have a choice. Mom will convince her to cooperate. If she refuses, we'll tell everyone she promised us the house and changed her mind.
I read the sentence twice.
Another message from Jason followed:
This isn't right. She needs to agree first.
Olivia's reply was chillingly casual.
She always gives in eventually. She just needs to realize how much the family needs her.
I set the papers down.
“Why did you keep these?”
“Because I started to realize what she was doing. I told myself I was waiting for a chance to stop it, but the truth is that I was afraid to confront her.”
“Fear doesn't excuse what happened.”
“I know.”
He pushed the envelope closer to me.
“I'll give Daniel everything I have. Bank records, messages, the business documents. And I'll work out a repayment plan with your mother.”
“That's between you and her.”
“I understand.”
For the first time, he looked directly at me.
“I am sorry, Rebecca. Not because you caught us. Because I let desperation make me a coward.”
I didn't forgive him. Not then.
But I believed he had finally stopped pretending.
When I left the café, the snow had slowed to a fine powder drifting across the street. My phone rang before I reached the car.
It was Daniel.
“We have a new development,” he said. “The title company has identified the person who uploaded the authorization document.”
I held my breath.
“Who?”
“Olivia Hart.”
I leaned against the cold metal of my car.
“Can they prove it?”
“The account records and the documents she submitted are being preserved. We still need to establish the full chain of events, but the evidence is getting clearer.”
I looked toward the mountains, their peaks disappearing into clouds.
For the first time since I had opened the lodge door, I felt something stronger than anger.
I felt the truth beginning to stand on its own.
May you like
And I knew the hardest conversation was still ahead.
Because the next person I needed to face was my sister.
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