Chapter 2

Lily stayed at the same company. She told me she was short on cash and asked to borrow 700 dollars.

I sent her 1,700. "Keep the extra, don't pinch pennies."

She said she'd pay me back. She never did, and I never asked.

Later, I helped her get a new job at a friend's company. Lily went there as an administrative assistant.

She told me, "Victoria, no one's ever been this good to me."

I believed her.

In 2016, Lily said she'd dated a guy, and it didn't work out. She came crying to me, saying he'd ripped her off for over 3,000 dollars.

I stayed up with her all night, crying together. The next day, I transferred 4,000 dollars to her.

"Don't even worry about paying this back," I said. "Just be smarter from now on."

In 2018, I got married to Matthew. Lily was my maid of honor.

She fixed my wedding train, crouched down for so long that her knees were red when she stood up.

"Victoria, I need you to be happy," she said, and then she started crying.

I cried too. I honestly thought that besides my dad, Lily was the one who cared about me the most.

After I got married, Lily came over to our place a lot. I'd cook. She'd do the dishes.

Matthew would sit in the living room watching TV.

"Your husband's picky," Lily said with a laugh. "When I find someone, I want one like him."

I said, "Sure, I'll keep an eye out."

She started staying over more and more. Sometimes, she'd come on the weekend and not leave until Monday morning.

I got her slippers, towels, and pajamas.

Matthew said, "Looks like you've got yourself a sister."

I said, "She basically is."

For Lily's birthday one year, I planned it two weeks in advance. I ordered a cake and bought the bag she'd been hinting at for months, six hundred dollars. It was a lot for me back then.

When she opened it, her eyes got red. "Victoria, you're too good to me."

"You're good to me, too," I said.

Once I was having dinner with a friend, and she asked about Lily. "That close friend of yours, I kind of feel like..."

"Feel like what?"

She hesitated. "Never mind, I'm probably overthinking it."

I said, "You just don't know her. She's not great with words sometimes, but she's a good person."

My friend didn't say anything else.

Now, it hit me. People who weren't great with words didn't usually ask for money so smoothly.

I didn't keep track of how much I spent on Lily over the years. Later, I did.

From 2011 to 2023, small amounts here and there, plus the bigger "loans," added up to eighty-nine thousand dollars.

And that didn't even include a million and a half dollars.

But I only found out about all that later when I went through my bank statements. Back then, I didn't keep track of a single cent.

Because to me, she was like my sister.

After Lily and Matthew disappeared, I filed a police report.

The officer said the situation was complicated. The money had been transferred from a joint account, the recipient wasn't a stranger, and Matthew had authorized access to the account.

He told me I could pursue it through civil court, which meant a lawsuit, which meant finding them first.

I searched for three months.

Their phones were off. Lily had blocked me. She'd given up her apartment and quit her job, too. When I called HR, they said she'd put in her notice a month earlier.

That was two weeks before the transfer.

I started digging.

First, I went through my chat history with Lily, message by message, from the newest back to the oldest.

When I got to 2015, I found one she'd sent me. [Victoria, I had dinner with a friend today, and he said he knows someone at your husband's company.]

I didn't even meet Matthew until 2017. How was Lily already talking about my husband's company back in 2015?

I checked the date three times.

No, that didn't add up. I wasn't married in 2015. Matthew wasn't my husband yet.

But Lily said "your husband's company." Did I even respond to that message?

I scrolled back. I replied: [Oh? Who?]

Lily: [Just a friend of a friend, casual conversation.]

Then she changed the subject. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time.

But, Lily knew about Matthew in 2015. They knew each other before I even met him. Had Lily introduced us?

No. I met Matthew at a reunion. Lily said she didn't know him.

"First time meeting him, your husband's cute," Lily had said when they met.