Chapter 5 - Prudence RunsMy sister disappeared two days later.
Her apartment was empty.
Phone switched off.
Car abandoned near the airport.
She had not boarded a commercial flight under her own name.
Jonathan called.
“She took money.”
“How much?”
“Forty-seven thousand from Carter Crest before the account freeze completed.”
I stared.
“She’s running.”
“Yes.”
Police issued an alert because she was now directly connected to financial forgery.
Sarah reacted differently.
“She’ll call your mother.”
“You think?”
“She always does.”
Sarah knew Prudence better than I did now.
That hurt.
But it was useful.
Gertrude claimed she knew nothing.
Then investigators obtained her phone records.
Four calls from an encrypted number.
All after Prudence disappeared.
Mother refused to explain.
Police eventually traced Prudence to a luxury lake house three states away.
Who owned it?
One of the men who regularly attended parties at my mansion.
Victor Hale.
Married.
Sixty-one.
Real-estate investor.
Prudence had been having an affair with him for nearly three years.
He had financed part of Bayside Social Club.
More importantly—
Victor was the private lender behind Carter Crest’s $620,000 debt.
I stared at Jonathan.
“You’re telling me Prudence borrowed money from the man she was sleeping with?”
“Through his lending company.”
“And he’s trying to foreclose on my house?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know my guarantee was forged?”
“That’s the million-dollar question.”
It became a criminal question quickly.
Emails showed Victor had doubts.
One message to Prudence:
Your brother signs from Saudi?
Prudence:
Mother handles everything. He never checks.
Victor:
Need confirmation.
Prudence:
You have it. Stop being nervous.
Not proof he knew.
Then police found another message.
Victor:
If the signature blows up, house still worth 2.5. We’ll settle before he gets back.
Enough.
Victor had known there was risk.
Maybe more.
When police found Prudence at his lake house, she tried to claim she was a guest.
Then discovered Victor had already hired his own lawyer.
And his lawyer’s strategy was simple.
Blame her.
Prudence finally learned what loyalty looked like in the world she had chosen.
She asked for me.
I refused initially.
Then Sarah said:
“Go.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to hear whether she’s still lying.”
I met Prudence at the county detention center.
Glass between us.
She looked nothing like the woman carrying roasted chicken at the party.
No makeup.
No silk.
No superiority.
“Michael.”
I picked up the phone.
“What?”
She cried immediately.
“Victor used me.”
I almost laughed.
“So did you.”
Her face tightened.
“Mother started it.”
“Did Mother forge my signature?”
Prudence looked away.
“Did she?”
“No.”
There.
“Who?”
“I did.”
I had expected it.
Still hurt.
“How many times?”
She whispered:
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
“Maybe fourteen.”
My stomach turned.
Loans.
Corporate filings.
Event contracts.
Authorization forms.
The power of attorney.
“Why?”
“Because Mother said you would approve.”
“Did you ask me?”
“No.”
“So you knew she might be wrong.”
Silence.
I continued.
“Why was Sarah behind the house?”
Prudence started crying harder.
“She kept threatening to tell you.”
“That’s called being my wife.”
“She hated Mother.”
“Perhaps Mother earned it.”
“She was ruining everything.”
“What?”
“The club. Events. Victor.”
I finally understood.
Sarah threatened Prudence’s lifestyle.
Not merely Gertrude’s control.
Prudence was earning money from the parties.
Stealing from my monthly transfers.
Using my home.
And Sarah was the one person who could expose all of it.
So they made her invisible.
I whispered:
“You starved my son because he was inconvenient.”
“No!”
“You ate roasted chicken twenty feet away from him.”
Her face collapsed.
“I didn’t think it had gotten that bad.”
Again.
The same defense.
I didn’t know.
I didn’t think.
Mother handled it.
Someone else decided.
Nobody wanted ownership of the final result.
But Jamie had still been hungry.
I put down the phone.
Prudence shouted:
“Michael!”
I stood.
“I’m your sister!”
I looked through the glass.
“I know.”
Then left.
May you like
Being my sister explained why it hurt.
It did not explain why I should protect her.
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