Page 41 of The Sound of Secrets

The man seated next to my mother at her small kitchen table didn’t look like the sort of lawyer who excelled at his job. He was in a mismatched, ill-fitting suit that was wrinkled and had a dark stain on one lapel. He was scruffy with bloodshot eyes, and I could smell the scent of stale booze all the way in the hallway. He had several papers spread out on the table in front of my mother and was speaking to her in a soft voice. His pen pointed at various places requiring a signature, and my mother bobbed her head as if she understood what he was explaining. I knew very well she did not.

I sighed as I stepped into the room. Before either of them could speak, I demanded to know, “Where did Dad take Winnie?”

My mother looked confused, and the shady lawyer had a gleam in his eye. “You’re finally here. We’ve been waiting for you.”

I glared at him as I walked to the table. “Did my father hire you?”

“It is irrelevant who hired me. I represent your mother. I have paperwork stating as such.” He pushed a contract in my direction, but it was the federal agent who moved forward to grab it.

My hands curled into fists and my fingernails dug into my palms with enough force to draw blood. I ached all over and felt like I was listening to what he said through cotton stuffed inside my ears. My family was always fucked up, but it was hard to fathom how we got this far off track. I felt as out of touch with reality as my mother and as vicious as my father at that moment. I resented the hell out of the hand I’d been dealt, and I made a mental note to appreciate the fact that I had a seat waiting for me at a brand new table if I was willing to take a gamble.

“Did you bring the money?” The lawyer’s eyes shifted around, zeroing in on my empty hands and the armed federal agent behind me.

“Of course not. Even billionaires don’t keep five-million dollars in cash lying around. Win transferred the money into a secure account in my name.” I was the only one who had the password, and it was at my discretion to hand it over or not.

“Have a seat. We have a lot to discuss and negotiate. Isn’t that right, Georgie?” My mom nodded, but her gaze was locked on me, and I could see her confusion and disgust through every blink.

“I’d rather stand. I need you to tell me where my niece is. I’m not discussing a thing until I know she’s safe.”

“If she dies, it’s your fault. You stole her mother. You’re unfit to be around her. She deserves better thanyou.” My mom whispered the words. I heard the pure hatred dripping in her tone. I had to admit this mental break was far worse than any of her previous episodes. I chalked up another reason to loathe my father. He managed to turn the woman I spent my life taking care of, regardless of the hardship, into my worst enemy overnight.

“She already has better than me, Mom. She has Win. If anything happens to her, he’s going to level the city. He’s going to burn this facility to the ground. You won’t have anywhere to go, and there is no place Dad can hide. Just tell me where she is, and we can end this as peacefully as possible.”

It was hard to remember she’d been so happy not that long ago because she was finally allowed to have visits with her granddaughter. Whatever was happening inside her head was so harmful. It was so frustrating how the switch flipped so suddenly, and that I didn’t know how to reverse it.

“You killed your baby. You’re a murderer, Channing. Your father just wants to keep Winnie safe so you don’t hurt her. You can’t be trusted.” She pushed a bunch of papers in my direction. “Sign these papers. You’re an unfit mother.”

I gave a brief glance at the different legal documents and felt my heart freeze. Her words cut me to the bone, and her accusation made me feel like I was dying. I was sick and tired of having my most vulnerable moment used as a sword for others to stab me. I was never going to forget my baby was gone. I was never going to forgive myself for not being able to do more, and for not makingbetter choices. It felt like a physical lashing to have the woman I sacrificed so much for berate me with the same accusations I leveled at myself in my lowest moments.

“Ouch. I see you’ve heard Dad’s version of events from that night. Interesting that you’ve never askedmewhat happened when I lost my baby. I didn’t think you even remembered I was pregnant. You’ve never mentioned it before.” I laughed out loud and shoved the emergency guardianship document back across the table. “Win is Winnie’s guardian. Not me. Even if I wanted to sign that, my signature is worthless.”

The lawyer chuckled and tapped his pen on the table. “I know. I also know Win will listen to you if you tell him the only way to guarantee Winnie’s safety is if he signs the agreement. Neither of you are fit to be her guardian. Your father took the girl for her best interest. He was doing his best to protect his granddaughter. I can prove you’ve alienated her and mistreated her for years.”

“You’ve both lost your minds. You should never have let my father convince you to get involved in this. He kidnapped his granddaughter. You’re both going to be accessories to his crimes. He doesn’t want custody; he wants the right to get his hands on her inheritance. This is all about money. And even if Win lost his mind and agreed to this, her actual father wouldn’t. You’ve been scammed.”

The rumpled lawyer shrugged and tapped his pen on another contract. “Fine. We can discuss the custody agreement later.” Even this fly-by-night guy had to realize battling Win and his legal team was a fight he’d lost before it began. So, he turned his attention to the easierprey. Me. “For now, sign this. It gives your mother legal access to all of your assets. Including the account with the ransom money. You’ve kept her hostage in this facility for years. You’ve isolated her and controlled her every move. Consider this compensation for years of neglect and abuse. You owe it to my client.”

The pen tapped a rhythm that was almost hypnotic. I stared at the tip and the words on the contract in front of me blurred together. “Why would I do that?” It seemed as absurd as Win letting go of Winnie.

“Because if you don’t, I’m going to kill myself.” My mother’s words were eerie and chilling. I’d heard her say something similar before, but never with such stone-cold conviction.

My head jerked up, and I watched in disbelief as my mother pulled a boxcutter out of nowhere and held it to her wrist.

My eyes widened in shock, and the federal agent behind me took a hasty step forward. I held up a hand to stop her and watched my mom like she might shatter into a million pieces any moment.

“You brought that in and gave it to her, didn’t you? My father told you to set this up.” It wasn’t a question. There were no dangerous objects allowed in the facility, but they rushed this guy in when all hell broke loose. My mother was always the leverage my dad planned to use to get what he wanted.

“No comment. I suggest you sign everything over before the situation gets out of hand and you live to regret your choice.” The slimy lawyer looked so smug it made me want to vomit.

A thin line of blood lifted on my mother’s thin wrist. I had flashbacks to all the times I stepped in to stop her from hurting herself when I was younger. I was always willing to do whatever it took to keep her safe and to stop her from harming anyone. Except for me. I let her injure me repeatedly because I always understood she didn’t mean it and couldn’t stop her illness from affecting everyone who loved her.

I reached out to stop my mother, but she just dug the razor deeper into her skin. I heard the agent responding to someone as she stepped out of the room. The doctor hovered at the door, unsure if he should intervene because of all the law enforcement involved. It was obvious by now my father wasn’t going to show. He wanted me to make my mom the executor of my estate, and once everything was transferred to her, she would turn right around and send everything to him. She had no awareness of just how horribly she was being manipulated.

“If I sign those papers, these people are going to arrest you, Mom. Dad’s going to take the money, and you’re going to pay for his crimes. What if something terrible happens to Winnie? You hate me so much right now and have no trouble calling me a murderer, but you’ll be the same if she dies because Dad is a greedy asshole. Do you want to go to prison, Mom? Can you try to see through the fog he’s pulled you into? Do your best to remember how everything was before he came back and messed everything up when he started toying with you. I know you don’t want to hurt yourself or Winnie.”

The lawyer tapped the papers with his pen again. I could see he was getting impatient. He was sweatingmore than when I first arrived, and he appeared to understand how inane and ill thought out this plan was. If I didn’t sign anything, he wouldn’t get a dime.

There was enough blood that it was dripping on the table, and I was getting lightheaded. Annoyed, I grabbed the pen from the creep and scrawled my name on all the pages of the contract. I didn’t have any of my own money. I was barely making ends meet when Win and I got married. While I was with him, I never needed to pay for a thing. He provided all that I needed, in more ways than one. I got a decent salary from Alistair, but it was far from the windfall my dad thought I was hoarding.

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