I looked around the room, feeling the last of my patience disappear.
“Where is Kyle at the moment?”
The room became terribly silent for a long moment before my mother-in-law finally chose to answer.
“He went out,” she replied, checking her watch. “He had something very urgent to attend to.”
I reached into my bag and took out my cell phone, ready to end the confusion immediately.
“Then I am going to call him right now and ask him exactly what is going on.”
The moment my thumb hovered over the screen to unlock it, my father seized my wrist with a desperate strength that shocked me.
“No, sweetheart. Please, do not call him yet.”
I stared down at him, completely confused by the pure panic written across his face.
“Dad, what is the matter with you? Why are you acting like this?”
“Come with me,” he whispered, his eyes flicking toward the others. “Please, we need to be alone.”
He led me toward the guest bedroom and pulled me inside, locking the door securely behind us before sinking onto the edge of the bed as though every bit of strength had drained out of him. I stayed standing in the middle of the room, my heart beating so hard that I could hear it in my ears.
“Dad, you need to tell me the absolute truth right now. Why are you here, and what exactly did Kyle tell you?”
My father looked up at me with eyes full of confusion and heartbreaking sorrow.
“My dear, tell me the truth… are you really not in trouble with the law?”
The entire world seemed to tilt sideways, and dizziness rushed through me.
“In trouble? What in the world are you talking about, Dad?”
He swallowed with visible effort and pulled a crumpled, sweat-marked piece of paper from his pocket.
“Kyle called me about a week ago. He told me that you had made a terrible mistake with company finances back in Salt Lake City. He said they were holding you in a secure facility while they conducted an internal investigation. He claimed they needed three million dollars in cash to fix everything before they pressed charges and sent you to prison.”
I felt every drop of blood leave my face.
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