Chapter 5
I stared at the text message.
Ashley was threatening to take my grandchildren.
And to send Bradley to prison.
My hands were shaking.
I called my lawyer immediately.
I told him about the text.
He was quiet for a long time.
"She's desperate," he said finally. "She knows she's losing. So she's trying to blackmail you. She probably doesn't have any real evidence against Bradley. But we can't take that risk."
"What do we do?" I asked.
"We go to the police," he said. "This is extortion. And we need to get it on record. But we also need to be careful. If Ashley feels cornered, she might do something stupid. Something dangerous."
I thought about my grandchildren.
Lily, seven.
Noah, five.
They were everything to me.
I couldn't lose them.
And I couldn't let Bradley go to prison.
Not when he'd finally come to his senses.
Not when he was trying to do the right thing.
"We can't give her the cottage," I said. "Daniel would never forgive me. And I'd never forgive myself. That cottage is our legacy. For Bradley. For the grandchildren. For the family."
"We won't have to," my lawyer said. "We just need to be smarter than her. And we need to make sure she can't follow through on her threats."
The next morning, we went to the police.
We showed them the text message.
We showed them the recording of Ashley admitting her plan.
We told them everything.
The police took it seriously.
They opened an extortion investigation.
They put a trace on Ashley's phone.
They promised to protect my family.
But I was still scared.
Ashley was unpredictable.
And desperate people did desperate things.
That afternoon, Bradley came to see me.
He looked terrible.
He hadn't slept.
His eyes were red.
"Mom," he said. "I need to tell you something. About Ashley's threats. She does have something on me. Not that I helped her plan anything. But… I did some things. Stupid things. Things she could use against me."
"What kind of things?" I asked.
He sat down.
He put his head in his hands.
"She talked me into investing some money," he said. "With one of her friends. It was supposed to be a sure thing. But it was a scam. And the money… it wasn't mine. I borrowed it from the company. From the petty cash. I was going to pay it back. But the investment failed. And now there's $45,000 missing. And Ashley knows. She says if I don't do what she says, she'll report me. And I'll go to prison for embezzlement."
I stared at my son.
He'd stolen money from his own company.
And Ashley had been holding it over him.
That's why he'd been so afraid of her.
That's why he'd done whatever she said.
"Oh, Bradley," I said.
"I'm sorry," he said. Tears were streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry. I was going to pay it back. I swear. But Ashley kept saying she'd help me. That if I just did what she said, she'd make sure the money was replaced. That nobody would ever find out."
I thought about it.
$45,000.
It was a lot of money.
But it was manageable.
"We'll pay it back," I said. "Today. Before anyone finds out. Before Ashley can report it."
Bradley looked up at me.
"You'd do that for me?"
"Of course I would," I said. "You're my son. And I know you made a mistake. But you're not a criminal. And I'm not going to let Ashley destroy your life."
I called Thomas.
He arranged to have the money transferred from the trust.
By the end of the day, the $45,000 was back in the company account.
Bradley went to his boss.
He confessed what he'd done.
He explained that he'd been manipulated.
That he'd paid the money back.
His boss was angry.
But he didn't press charges.
Bradley was suspended for two weeks.
But he kept his job.
And Ashley no longer had any leverage over him.
When Ashley found out, she was furious.
She called me.
Screaming.
Yelling.
Threatening.
"You think you've won?" she shouted. "You think because you paid back his little debt, you're safe? I have other ways to hurt you. Other secrets. You have no idea what I'm capable of."
"Goodbye, Ashley," I said.
And I hung up.
I blocked her number.
The hearing was the next day.
I was ready.
But I was also nervous.
Ashley was cornered.
And cornered animals were dangerous.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I sat on the porch.
Looking at the lake.
Thinking about Daniel.
Asking him for strength.
And then I saw something.
Lights.
Coming down the driveway.
Two cars.
They stopped in front of the cottage.
People got out.
I couldn't see who they were in the dark.
But I could hear them.
Ashley's voice.
"Get the door open," she said. "Hurry. Before she calls the police."
I stood up.
My heart was pounding.
Ashley was breaking into my cottage.
I ran to the kitchen.
I grabbed my phone.
I called 911.
And then I grabbed the old baseball bat Daniel had kept by the door.
The one he'd used to coach Bradley's Little League team.
I stood in the kitchen.
Waiting.
The front door crashed open.
Ashley walked in.
Behind her were two men.
Big men.
Tough-looking.
She saw me standing there.
The bat in my hands.
She smiled.
"Put the bat down, Marianne," she said. "This doesn't have to get ugly. Just sign the papers. Sign the cottage over to me. And I'll leave you alone. You can have your September week. I'll even let you use it every year. Isn't that fair?"
"Get out of my house," I said. My voice was steady. Strong.
"Or what?" she said. "You'll hit me with that bat? Go ahead. Try it. And then you really will be declared incompetent. You'll spend the rest of your life in a mental hospital. And the cottage will be mine anyway."
She stepped closer.
The two men behind her moved forward.
"Last chance," she said.
I gripped the bat tighter.
And then I heard it.
Sirens.
Approaching fast.
Ashley's face went white.
"You called the police," she whispered.
"I did," I said.
She turned to run.
But it was too late.
The police were already at the door.
Officers poured into the cottage.
They arrested Ashley.
They arrested the two men.
They read them their rights.
Ashley was screaming.
"This is a misunderstanding! She invited me in! She's crazy! She's—"
An officer led her out in handcuffs.
She looked at me as she passed.
Rage in her eyes.
Hatred.
"This isn't over," she mouthed.
But I knew she was wrong.
It was over.
The next morning, the hearing was supposed to take place.
But Ashley was in jail.
Charged with breaking and entering.
Trespassing.
Assault.
Extortion.
And conspiracy.
Her guardianship petition was thrown out of court.
The judge called it "the most blatant attempt at elder abuse and financial exploitation" he'd ever seen.
We'd won.
But as I was leaving the courthouse, Jennifer approached me.
She looked worried.
"Marianne," she said. "There's something else you need to know. About Ashley. She's not who she says she is. Her name isn't even Ashley Bennett."
I stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
"Her real name is Melissa Carter," Jennifer said. "And she's done this before. Three times. She marries men with money. Or access to money. She takes everything she can get. And then she disappears. She's a professional con artist, Marianne. And she's not going to stop just because she's in jail. She has friends. Connections. People who will help her. You need to be very, very careful."
I felt a chill run down my spine.
Ashley wasn't just a greedy daughter-in-law.
She was a professional criminal.
May you like
And she'd been playing a very long game.
And I had a feeling we hadn't seen the last of her.
