Chapter 4

I had expected Marshall to pressure me more about selling the house, but days passed without any mention of it, as though the whole issue had never come up.

Half a month later, as I was leaving work with a colleague, I saw Ben waving at me from a distance. Standing behind him were Marshall and Gabriel.

My heart sank, unsure of what they had come to do this time.

Sensing the tension, my colleague made a quick exit.

With a heavy heart, I walked over to them.

Before I could say anything, Marshall smiled warmly and said, "Sweetheart, I was out of line before. I’ve come to apologize."

I was taken aback, unsure how to respond.

Ben chimed in, "Yeah, Dad’s been thinking about it a lot and realized he overreacted."

Marshall continued, "We can take our time with the house. We’re family, after all. We can talk things through."

Hearing this, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, and my tone softened.

"Dad, I’m glad you’re seeing it that way. We can always discuss things calmly."

Marshall then suggested we go out for dinner to talk more.

At dinner, though, Marshall kept subtly probing about the location of the other house my parents had left me.

My instincts went on high alert, and I answered vaguely.

That house had been a gift from my parents when I got married. They were worried about me being far from home and having nowhere to go if anything went wrong, so they bought me a small second-hand house.

Who knew that after just a few years, it would end up part of the Urban Renewal Project?

Marshall seemed to pick up on my guardedness and lost interest, turning to drink with Gabriel.

I frowned, watching Gabriel closely.

Even though he was supposedly Marshall’s assistant, why was he attending a family dinner?

Since Gabriel had arrived in our lives, Marshall treated him more like a superior than an assistant.

The whole dinner felt like a game of hidden agendas, with only Ben getting drunk, blissfully unaware.

Back home, I helped Ben to bed, and Mrs. Harrington handed him a large cup of honey water to sober up.

I watched as Ben, his face flushed, tossed and turned on the bed.

"Harper, I’m going to give you the best life," Ben mumbled, half-asleep.

I sat by the bed, gently patting his back to soothe him.

"I believe you," I whispered.

But then he added, "Dad... I know... I know everything..."

I froze, leaning in closer. "What do you know?"

Ben rolled over and fell silent, refusing to speak.

I gave him a frustrated nudge.

I knew it. Something about Marshall’s return wasn’t right.

Ben’s words kept me up all night.

The next morning, as I dragged myself into work with dark circles under my eyes, my coworkers teased me about staying up late.

At lunch, the colleague who had left with me the day before pulled me into the break room.

She looked at me seriously.

"Who were the two men with your husband yesterday?"

I blinked in confusion. "That was... my father-in-law and his assistant."

She pulled up an article on her tablet and held it up for me to see.

"Does this man and the younger one look familiar?"

I stared at the screen and gasped.

The man in the article was unmistakably Gabriel. Below his picture was the headline: "Business Fraud Suspect Still at Large."