Chapter 5 - The False Truce
At 6:00 p.m. that evening, Parker stood in the driveway of the country house, his hands tucked deep into his pockets, waiting for Ellie’s car to return.
Following Clarissa’s instructions, Parker had called his sister an hour earlier, pretending to be utterly furious with Clarissa. He had lied, telling Ellie that Clarissa was hysterical, unstable, and threatening to divorce him and take Dustin away permanently. He claimed he had managed to "calm Clarissa down" and convinced her to leave the country house to spend the weekend at a hotel in Boston with Dustin to cool off.
He invited Ellie and Alana back to the house under the pretense of "signing the trust papers in secret" before Clarissa returned.
Clarissa and Dustin were not in Boston. They were sitting quietly in the master bedroom upstairs, watching the live security feed on Clarissa's laptop, accompanied by two undercover private investigators Clarissa had hired through her firm's legal network.
Ellie’s sedan pulled into the gravel driveway. Alana and Ellie stepped out, their faces practically glowing with malicious triumph.
"Oh, Parker, thank God!" Alana cried, throwing her arms around her son's neck. "That evil woman almost destroyed our family! She talked to us like we were criminals!"
"She's out of her mind, Parker," Ellie chimed in, rushing up the porch steps with her leather handbag. "Did you see how she treated Mom? Over a silly little discipline matter with that brat? You need to divorce her immediately!"
Parker forced a stiff smile, though his eyes were hollow. "Let's go inside. Clarissa took Dustin to the city. We have a few hours before anyone notices what we're doing."
They walked into the living room. Ellie immediately pulled the thick stack of forged trust papers out of her bag and slammed them onto the dining table, alongside a secondary folder containing the corporate loan documents for Bolaro Designs.
"Here," Ellie said eagerly, handing Parker a pen. "Sign the property transfer for the country house and the townhouse first. Once those are in the family trust, Clarissa can't touch them during divorce proceedings. Then sign these corporate authorization forms for the two-million-dollar expansion loan."
Parker held the pen, staring down at the paper. His hands were shaking, not from fear, but from the brutal realization that every word Clarissa had spoken was 100% true.
"Ellie," Parker said softly, looking his sister in the eye. "If I sign these loan forms... doesn't that make me personally liable if the construction firm defaults?"
Ellie waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about that! Mark has everything under control. It's just a formality for the bank audit next week. Just sign it, Parker. Do it for the family."
"Do it for your sister, Parker," Alana added, leaning over his shoulder. "She's struggled so much since Mark lost his business. You owe it to us to keep this family afloat."
Parker looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't owe you anything," he whispered.
Ellie frowned. "What did you say?"
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Parker set the pen down, stepped back from the table, and looked at his mother with utter disgust. "I said... I don't owe you anything."
Before Ellie could react, the door to the study opened, and Clarissa walked out, flanked by the two private investigators and a uniformed deputy from the county sheriff's department.
