Chapter 4: The Secret Brielle Buried
“Aaliyah, I can explain.””
Brielle said it so quietly that, for a moment, Aaliyah wished she hadn't heard her.
The bridal room door remained open behind them. Somewhere in the corridor, a wedding coordinator was counting place cards. A burst of laughter rose from the reception hall, followed by the clatter of dishes being arranged for dinner.
The world continued as though nothing had happened.
Aaliyah stared at her cousin.
“What did you see in that hospital hallway?””
Brielle's hands tightened around the small satin clutch she carried. Her sage-green bridesmaid dress was immaculate, her braids pinned neatly into a low bun. She looked exactly as she had looked that morning when she'd arrived with coffee, makeup supplies, and a list of last-minute things Aaliyah had forgotten.
She also looked terrified.
“Tell me,” Aaliyah said.
Brielle glanced at Denise.
“Not in front of everyone.””
“Everyone is already involved. My mother lied to me. My fiancé lied to me.
Apparently, my dead father isn't dead. What exactly are you waiting for?””
Daniel stepped away from the door.
“Maybe we should all take a breath.””
Aaliyah turned on him.
“You don't get to manage this conversation anymore.””
Daniel's jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
Brielle swallowed.
“I was nine when it happened.””
“So was I.””
“I know.””
“Then why do you remember something I don't?””
“Because you were upstairs when the adults started arguing.””
Aaliyah felt a cold pressure spread across her chest.
“Where?””
“At your mother's old house. The night your father disappeared.””
Denise closed her eyes.
“Brielle, please.””
“No.”” Brielle's voice shook, but she didn't look away from Aaliyah.
“You told me to forget what I saw. You said it was too dangerous to talk about. I've carried it for twenty years, and I'm done pretending it never happened.””
Aaliyah stepped closer.
“What did you see?””
Brielle looked at the phone in Aaliyah's hand.
“I saw your father standing in the kitchen with blood on his shirt. Your mother was crying. There was another man with him.””
“Richard Hayes?”” Aaliyah asked.
Brielle nodded slowly.
Daniel's face went rigid.
“You knew my father?”” he asked.
“I knew what he looked like,” Brielle replied.
“I didn't know his name until years later.””
Aaliyah felt as though the floor had shifted beneath her shoes.
“Why were you at our house?””
“My mother had dropped me off that afternoon. She was working late, and your mother said I could sleep over. We were supposed to have a movie night.””
A memory flickered in Aaliyah's mind: a blanket fort in the living room, a bowl of popcorn, Brielle laughing when the television lost its signal during a thunderstorm.
Then nothing.
“I remember the storm,” Aaliyah whispered.
Brielle nodded.
“You fell asleep before midnight. I woke up because people were shouting downstairs.””
“What did you hear?””
“Your father said someone had taken something that didn't belong to them. Richard told him he was making a mistake by coming back.””
Denise gripped the table.
“Stop.””
Brielle ignored her.
“Then your father said, 'You promised me she would never be involved.''”
Aaliyah's heart hammered.
“Who was he talking about?””
“I didn't know. I was hiding behind the stairs. I saw Richard take an envelope from his jacket and put it on the kitchen table. Your father refused to touch it.””
“What was in the envelope?””
“I don't know.””
“Then what happened?””
Brielle's eyes filled.
“Your mother saw me. She grabbed my hand and took me upstairs. She told me to stay in your bedroom and not open the door, no matter what I heard.””
Aaliyah looked at Denise.
“You knew Brielle saw them?””
Denise nodded faintly.
“I was trying to protect both of you.””
“From what?””
Denise's mouth trembled.
“From people who believed your father had stolen money that belonged to them.””
Daniel stared at her.
“What money?””
Denise looked at him.
“Your father can answer that.””
“My father is dead.””
“And so was Marcus, according to the stories we were all told.””
Daniel recoiled as if the words had struck him.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Aaliyah's phone vibrated.
A message from the unknown number appeared.
*THE BLUE ROOM. ASK FOR THE LOCKED DRAWER. YOUR MOTHER KNOWS THE KEY.*
Aaliyah read it aloud.
Denise turned toward the window.
“No.””
“What blue room?”” Aaliyah demanded.
“My old bedroom,” Denise whispered.
“Where?””
“At the house where we lived before you started middle school.””
“The house you sold fifteen years ago?””
Denise nodded.
Aaliyah remembered that house: a modest two-story home with a blue bedroom at the end of the upstairs hallway. Her mother had painted it that color because Aaliyah loved the ocean, even though they'd lived hundreds of miles from the nearest beach.
The house had been sold after Denise announced that she needed a fresh start.
Aaliyah had never questioned the decision.
“What's in the drawer?”” she asked.
Denise shook her head.
“I don't know if it's still there.””
“Then why are you afraid?””
“Because I know what I put inside it.””
Daniel stepped between them.
“We are not going anywhere.””
Aaliyah looked at him with disbelief.
“You don't get to decide that.””
“The ceremony starts in thirty minutes.””
“I don't care.””
“Your guests are here. Our families are here. There are people who traveled across the country to see us get married.””
“And I invited them to a wedding, not a performance.””
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Think carefully about what you're doing.””
Aaliyah felt something inside her harden.
“That's exactly what I've been doing. Thinking carefully. Remembering carefully.
Trusting carefully. And every person I trusted has given me another reason to doubt them.””
She removed her engagement ring.
Daniel stared at her hand.
“Aaliyah, don't.””
She placed the ring on the makeup table beside the broken ribbon from her bouquet.
“I need the truth before I make another promise.””
His face tightened.
“You're going to throw away three years because of a phone call?””
“No. I'm questioning three years because you admitted you knew my father was alive.””
“I said I didn't know for certain.””
“You knew enough to lie.””
Daniel opened his mouth, but Aaliyah turned away.
Brielle took her hand.
“Let's go.””
Denise hurried after them.
“Aaliyah, wait.””
Aaliyah stopped at the doorway without turning around.
“If you want me to stay, tell me what happened that night.””
Her mother stood motionless.
For several seconds, Aaliyah thought she might finally speak.
Instead, Denise whispered, “If you open that drawer, there is no going back.””
Aaliyah looked over her shoulder.
“Mom, there was no going back the moment you told a nine-year-old girl that her father was dead.””
Then she walked out.
The parking lot behind the venue was washed in the pale gold of the setting sun. Brielle led Aaliyah toward her car, moving quickly in heels that clicked against the pavement.
Aaliyah gathered her wedding dress in both hands.
“Why didn't you tell me before?””
Brielle unlocked the car.
“Because your mother begged me not to.””
“You were nine.””
“I know.””
“You couldn't have understood what you were seeing.””
“I understood enough to know that your father was scared.””
Aaliyah paused.
“Scared of Richard?””
“Maybe. Or of someone else.””
Brielle opened the passenger door, then stopped.
“There was one more thing.””
Aaliyah stared at her.
“What?””
“When your mother took me upstairs, I heard Richard say something about a child.””
Aaliyah's mouth went dry.
“What child?””
“I don't know. But he said, 'The girl stays with us. Marcus doesn't get to decide what happens to her.''”
The evening air suddenly felt cold.
Aaliyah gripped the doorframe.
“Did you tell my mother?””
“Years later, I asked her about it. She said I'd misunderstood.””
“And you believed her?””
“I wanted to.””
Brielle's eyes shone with tears.
“You were my cousin, Aaliyah. You were my best friend. We were kids. I didn't know how to challenge the adults who were raising us.””
Aaliyah looked away.
She wanted to be angry with Brielle. Some part of her was angry. But she could still remember being nine years old, frightened of thunder, convinced that adults always knew what to do.
Perhaps that was why the betrayal hurt so much.
She had spent her life believing that the adults around her had made impossible choices to keep her safe.
Now she wondered whether they had simply been protecting one another.
“Take me to the old house,” Aaliyah said.
Brielle hesitated.
“I don't know if we can get inside.””
“Then we'll find out.””
As Brielle started the engine, Aaliyah's phone rang.
The unknown caller.
She answered immediately.
“Marcus?””
His voice was strained.
“Where are you?””
“Leaving the wedding venue.””
“Good. Don't go back inside.””
“I'm going to the house where I grew up.””
Silence.
Then Marcus said, “Your mother told you about the drawer?””
“No. Someone texted me.””
“Who?””
“I don't know.””
Marcus exhaled sharply.
“Listen to me. Whatever you find in that house, don't let Richard's family get their hands on it.””
Aaliyah looked at Brielle.
“Richard is dead. Daniel says so.””
“Daniel doesn't know everything about his father.””
“What does that mean?””
“It means the man who stood in your kitchen twenty years ago wasn't working alone.””
Aaliyah pressed the phone against her ear.
“Then who was he working with?””
Before Marcus could answer, a loud horn sounded behind them.
Brielle slammed on the brakes.
A black SUV had pulled directly across the exit, blocking their path.
Its headlights illuminated the windshield.
Aaliyah leaned forward, trying to see through the glare.
Then her phone crackled.
Marcus's voice turned urgent.
“Baby, get out of that car.””
The SUV's driver-side door opened.
And a man stepped into the fading sunlight.
Aaliyah recognized the face from the photograph on Daniel's desk.
May you like
Richard Hayes.
The man who was supposed to have been dead for years.
