Chapter 7 - The Attorney’s Call
The next morning, the silence in my small two-bedroom apartment felt completely different.
For three years, the silence had felt heavy, suffocating—the silence of poverty, of counting pennies for the grocery bill, of dreading the mail carrier’s arrival. But this morning, sunlight streamed through the slightly cracked kitchen window, illuminating the faded linoleum with a warm, golden glow.
Mason sat at the small breakfast table, eating a bowl of cereal in contented peace, reading a comic book.
At 9:30 AM, my cell phone buzzed against the laminate counter. The caller ID showed an unknown number with a downtown business exchange.
My stomach knotted instinctively. Was it Jake? Was it one of Evelyn’s flying monkeys?
I took a deep breath, picked up the phone, and swiped answer. "Hello?"
"Ms. Hayes? Sarah Hayes?"
The voice was deep, authoritative, and distinctly cultured. It wasn't Jake.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"My name is Arthur Vance."
I gripped the phone tighter, glancing over at Mason. "Mr. Vance. If this is about yesterday—"
"Yesterday was an abomination, Ms. Hayes," Arthur interrupted smoothly, his tone remarkably gentle. "And I am calling to apologize."
I blinked. "You're apologizing to me?"
"My daughter Brittany behaved like a spoiled, cruel child, and she allowed that narcissistic fraud to manipulate her into mocking you," Arthur said without hesitation. "I was blind to who Jake really was, blinded by my desire to see my daughter settled. But what your son did yesterday saved my family from an unimaginable financial and personal disaster."
May you like
"Mason is... he's very observant," I managed to say.
"He's extraordinary," Arthur replied. "Which brings me to the reason for my call. My firm’s senior forensic accountants spent the night reviewing the paperwork your son produced, along with the corporate filings Jake submitted to my office over the last two years. The fraud is extensive, Sarah. It’s far worse than just your father’s insurance policy."
