Chapter 4 - The Trojan Horse
I grabbed Beth by the arm and pulled her quickly inside the house.
I locked the door and activated the alarm system with a shaky hand.
Beth collapsed onto the floor, hyperventilating as she stared at my empty living room.
“I am so sorry I never defended you, Joanna,” she cried.
She claimed that our mother had been manipulating her entire life just as badly as mine.
She told me that the wedding was a complete sham to cover up the money laundering operation.
I wanted to believe her, because a tiny part of me still loved my little sister.
I gave her a blanket, a glass of water, and told her she could sleep on the sofa for the night.
I locked myself in my bedroom, too exhausted to deal with the trauma of my family anymore.
I finally managed to drift into a restless, uneasy sleep.
At three in the morning, I woke up needing a glass of water.
I quietly opened my bedroom door and walked down the dark hallway.
A faint, glowing light was coming from the kitchen counter.
I peered around the corner, expecting to see Beth looking for a late-night snack.
Instead, I saw her standing over my open laptop.
She had plugged a small black flash drive into the USB port.
Her tears were completely gone, replaced by a cold, calculating expression of deep focus.
I watched as she quickly highlighted the folder containing all of Jessica's legal evidence against our mother.
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Beth wasn't running away from a crazy woman.
She had been sent here to delete the only files that could send them both to federal prison.
