Chapter 6 - THE TWIN AT THE DOOR
Brianna entered like someone walking into a church after betraying God.
Pink dress replaced by leggings and an oversized sweater. No makeup. No smugness.
Savannah did not offer her tea.
Brianna held out the folder.
“I didn’t know about the trust.”
Savannah took it carefully.
Inside were copies of bank screenshots, one unsigned wire form, and an email thread between Robert and Patricia.
Patricia: If Savannah makes a scene, move the fund through Brianna. She’ll complain, but we can say it was for the babies.
Robert: Only if we get the secondary code. We may need Savannah distracted.
Savannah’s hands shook.
Olivia muttered, “Distracted. Like underwater?”
Brianna winced.
“I swear to God, I didn’t know about that email until today.”
“Did you know they wanted my money?”
“Yes.”
“At what point?”
Brianna looked down.
“When Mom first said you should split it.”
“Split?”
Savannah laughed bitterly.
“She wanted all of it.”
“I know.”
Then Brianna did something rare. She told the truth before making herself the victim.
“I thought it was for me,” she said quietly. “I thought maybe Grandma had meant it for both of us and Mom was fixing it.”
Savannah stared.
“You believed that?”
“She always said you got more because Grandma liked you better.”
There it was: the poison of childhood, still active.
Rachel asked, “Why bring this now?”
Brianna swallowed.
“Because I found Dad’s tax notice.”
She opened another page.
URGENT PAST-DUE NOTICE: $18,000.
Savannah went still.
Robert’s business owed exactly the amount in her fund.
Brianna kept going.
“They were going to move your money into my account and then out again. Mom said it would look cleaner if anyone asked.”
Not for Brianna’s baby.
For Robert’s crisis.
Savannah laughed once in disbelief.
“So I was supposed to fund Dad’s taxes through your pregnancy.”
Brianna covered her face.
“I’m sorry.”
Savannah almost said it was too late.
Then she looked at her twin more closely and saw something miserable, not merely manipulative.
Brianna had been used too—though never as brutally as Savannah.
Rachel asked the important question.
“Will you testify?”
Brianna’s hands dropped.
Immediately, fear returned.
“You know what Mom will do.”
Savannah nodded.
“Yes.”
That was the answer.
Brianna still feared Patricia more than she loved the truth.
Then Olivia’s phone buzzed.
Hospital number.
She stepped aside, listened, then turned back pale.
“Savannah—your lab results from yesterday showed a small placental bleed. The doctor wants you back in the morning for another scan.”
Savannah’s hand flew to her stomach.
The baby moved, thank God.
But lightly.
Too lightly.
Brianna started crying.
“I didn’t know she hit you that hard.”
Savannah met her eyes.
“You knew she hit me.”
Silence.
That landed.
When Brianna finally left, she forgot the folder on the coffee table.
Savannah picked it up again and found one last page tucked into the back.
A draft petition naming Patricia Brooks as temporary co-manager of Savannah’s inheritance assets if Savannah became medically unstable during pregnancy.
Signed by Robert.
May you like
Not yet filed.
They had already planned the next theft if the first one failed.
