Chapter 4 - Melissa Breaks FirstPatricia denied everything.
Melissa lasted forty-eight minutes.
Police had not arrested either woman.
Not yet.
The company’s lawyers first conducted internal interviews.
Melissa arrived wearing sunglasses.
Rachel asked:
“Did you access Daniel Cole’s former email account?”
“No.”
IT logs appeared.
Melissa changed the answer.
“I may have logged in once.”
“Fourteen times.”
“I was looking for family photographs.”
“Inside a corporate trust account?”
Silence.
Then:
“Mom told me to.”
There it was.
Ethan watched through a remote feed.
Melissa continued.
Patricia had convinced her that Ethan was destroying their father’s legacy.
Marriage changed him.
Fatherhood made him “soft.”
Lauren challenged Patricia.
Ethan stopped giving Melissa money whenever she asked.
Apparently adulthood had become evidence of betrayal.
Patricia said Daniel always intended all three surviving Coles to run the family assets.
There was no such document.
So Patricia decided to “restore the balance.”
Rachel asked:
“By forging instructions from your dead father?”
Melissa cried.
“I didn’t think of it that way.”
“How did you think of it?”
“Using what Dad would have wanted.”
Rachel placed Daniel’s actual will on the table.
It named Ethan controlling successor.
Patricia received a substantial lifetime trust.
Melissa received another.
Daniel had been explicit.
Business control stayed with Ethan unless independent directors voted otherwise.
Melissa stared.
“Mom said there was another letter.”
“There isn’t.”
Her face changed.
All this time, Patricia had told Melissa she was correcting an injustice.
In reality, Melissa had already inherited nearly $4 million.
She had simply burned through much of it.
Ethan felt something between anger and disgust.
Then Rachel asked about Lauren.
Melissa looked away.
“Did you hide her car keys?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Mom.”
“Did you know Noah was sick?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you drive them?”
Melissa began crying.
“I thought it was just a fever.”
“You had a car.”
“Yes.”
“Lauren asked?”
Silence.
“Melissa.”
“Yes.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
His sister had heard Lauren ask for help.
Then returned to her phone.
Not because she wanted Noah hurt.
Because Lauren’s distress had become background noise.
That knowledge changed something permanently.
Before leaving, Melissa asked to speak to Ethan.
He agreed.
She entered the room crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Specific.”
Melissa swallowed.
“I spent your money.”
“Yes.”
“I used Dad’s login.”
“Yes.”
“I helped Mom pressure Lauren.”
“Yes.”
“I knew Noah was sick and didn’t help.”
His voice became quiet.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
He believed she regretted being caught.
He was not yet sure she regretted what she had done.
“You need your own attorney.”
She looked shocked.
“Ethan.”
“I am not fixing this.”
“You’re my brother.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why this hurts.”
He opened the door.
May you like
“But it is not why consequences disappear.”
Melissa left alone.
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