“Word for word,” I replied, my voice breaking. “He said, ‘She fell right into my trap in high school. My plan is about to work. I’ve been preparing this since we were teenagers.’ Elena, I don’t know who I married. I feel like my whole life has been a movie script written by someone else.”
Elena sat back, crossing her arms as she thought deeply. “If this started in high school, then whatever he is planning is deeply rooted in something that happened back then. Did anything unusual happen to his family or yours around that time?”
I searched my memory. High school had been a smooth time for me, but for Matthew’s family, it was turbulent. His father’s small logistics business had suddenly gone bankrupt during our junior year, forcing them to sell off assets. Around the same time, my own father’s real estate firm had taken off, allowing my family to prosper significantly. I had always assumed it was just a stark contrast in luck. But could there be a connection? 🌲
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“My dad helped his father financially back then,” I whispered, a sudden realization hitting me. “When Matthew’s family was struggling, my dad gave his father an interest-free loan to keep them afloat. Matthew’s dad was always deeply grateful… or at least, that’s what I thought.”
Elena’s eyes widened slightly. “What if it wasn’t a gesture of simple kindness in their eyes? What if there was a business dispute behind it?”
The thought sent another wave of dread through me. I realized that crying and hiding wouldn’t solve anything. I had to face the reality head-on. If Matthew was executing a plan, I needed to figure out his next move. I asked Elena to come with me to my parents’ house to check our family’s old financial archives stored in the attic, searching for any documents from that specific high school period.
