Chapter 6
David glanced up at the screen.
A woman in a sharp Chanel suit sat on a couch, her back half-turned to the camera. All he could see was her silhouette, elegant, composed.
Her voice was distorted for privacy, but he could tell she was young.
The reporter leaned in. "Ms. Grant, any plans for the money?"
The woman smiled.
"First, I want to buy my own place. Somewhere I don't have to answer to anyone. A home that's truly mine.
"Then, I want to restart my career. I studied accounting in college, but had to set it aside for three years. Time to pick it back up.
"And finally, I want to tell myself that the hard years are behind me. Starting today, I'm living for me."
Her words were calm. Quiet. But something about them landed hard.
David's chest tightened.
There was something about that silhouette. The way she held herself. It nagged at him.
Lisa pointed suddenly. "David, Mom, look at her bag. Is that an Hermès? Those cost a fortune, right? Like, tens of thousands. Maybe more."
Karen's jaw dropped. "Tens of thousands for a bag? Who is this woman?"
On screen, the woman shifted slightly, laughing at something the reporter said. Her face caught the light, a glimpse, but enough.
The curve of her brow. The set of her lips.
David's fork clattered to the floor.
He stared at the screen, the blood draining from his face.
Lisa saw it too. She rubbed her eyes, then froze. "Is that Emma?"
Karen was still confused. "Emma? What are you talking about? Are you seeing things?"
She leaned closer, squinting at the screen.
And then she saw it. The woman on TV, polished, poised, dripping in designer, was Emma. The same daughter-in-law she'd thrown out yesterday for being too shabby to look at.
Karen's mind went blank. She couldn't believe that the shabby woman would become so elegant.
And Emma won 1.5 million dollars.
Karen finally understood that "Ms. Grant" was Emma. Her thoughts spiraled into chaos.
On screen, the reporter asked one more question. "Ms. Grant, anything you'd like to say about your past?"
Emma faced the camera. Her smile was radiant but icy.
"Yes," she said. "I want to thank my ex-husband's family for showing me the door. Without their rejection, I wouldn't be here today."
That was the last straw. Karen couldn't take it anymore. Her vision went dark, and the world spun around her.
"My money. My 1.5 million dollars!" She gasped, then slumped sideways, sliding right off her chair.
"Mom!" David and Lisa screamed in unison.
The Brown family was in total chaos.
The living room exploded into noise, shouting, crying, the TV still droning on in the background.
Emma's words hung in the air like a slap that kept landing, over and over. "I want to thank my ex-husband's family..."
David scrambled to catch Karen before she hit the floor. "Mom! Mom, wake up!"
Lisa stood frozen for a second, then shrieked and dove down beside them. "Mom! What's wrong? Don't do this!"
Karen's face had gone gray. A thin line of foam traced the corner of her mouth.
David panicked. He hauled her up and ran for the door. "Call 911! Now!"
Lisa fumbled for her phone, her hands shaking so badly she kept missing the buttons.
The ambulance came screaming, sirens wailing, and left as fast.
Outside the ER, David and Lisa slumped on a bench like two deflated balloons.
Lisa's eyes were still red as she clung to David's arm, her voice shaky with tears and regret.
"David, what are we gonna do? That 1.5 million dollars. It was supposed to be ours!"