What Diana Knew
Chapter 04 - What Diana Knew
Diana Ashworth, Sophie's mother, was sitting at her own kitchen table at that exact moment, entirely unaware her daughter had driven to the old property, staring at her own phone with the specific, growing dread of a woman who understood, with increasing certainty, that the situation she'd been carefully managing for weeks had just slipped considerably further beyond her control.
Marcus had called her an hour earlier, voice flat and measured.
"Your daughter showed up at the house," he'd said. "She's in the room now, with your mother."
Diana had felt her stomach drop entirely. "You locked her in there."
"What exactly did you expect me to do," Marcus said, no emotion in his voice at all. "Let her walk out and call the police."
"She's my daughter," Diana said, voice shaking. "This was never supposed to involve her. You promised me nobody would get hurt."
"Nobody's been hurt," Marcus said. "Your mother is uncomfortable, certainly, but she's alive and fed. Your daughter is simply, temporarily, in a place where she can't complicate things further until we resolve the documents."
"Resolve the documents," Diana repeated, fury and fear tangled together in her voice. "You mean force my mother to sign over power of attorney so you can continue stealing from her estate without interference."
"So we can continue," Marcus corrected, coldly. "You've been benefiting from this arrangement for five years, Diana. Don't pretend you suddenly developed a conscience the moment your own child walked into the equation."
Diana sat with that accusation, the specific, devastating truth of it settling over her like something physical, understanding now exactly how thoroughly she'd allowed herself to be pulled into something she'd once told herself was simply a minor financial adjustment, a small redirection of funds her mother would never miss, managed by a professional she trusted.
She hadn't asked enough questions. She'd accepted the money, the lifestyle improvements, the specific comfort of a standard of living her own career had never independently provided, and she'd let herself believe, for five years, that what she didn't know about Marcus's methods couldn't actually implicate her.
She understood now, with her own daughter locked in that room, exactly how catastrophically wrong that belief had been.
May you like
She reached for her phone, scrolling to a number she hadn't called in months, a woman she'd once considered a friend before their relationship had been quietly, thoroughly complicated by exactly this kind of shared, uncomfortable secret.
"Renata," she said, when the call connected. "I need help. I think I've made a terrible mistake, and I need it fixed before anyone actually gets hurt."
