“Hey! Get out of there! That’s mine!”
However, when they open it, it’s not only filled with all my hidden treasures, but with money. They stand up, going straight to my father and turning him around to handcuff him.
“Landon Hayworth, you’re being arrested for Forgery and Embezzlement. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
“Dad!” I scream. I try to get to him, but my mom holds me back.
“Theresa, call our lawyer! Have him meet me at the station.”
Tears stain our cheeks as we watch my father get dragged out of our house and thrown into the back of a police car. His eyes meet mine as they drive away, and he mouths a silent I love you.
“My Aunt Laura came to pick me up and my mom spent the next two days with the lawyer, trying to get my dad out of jail. According to the warrants, they had proof of my father stealing a lot of money from the company he worked for. Over three million dollars was moved in his name and completely unaccounted for. What they found under the floorboard was only a little under four hundred thousand.”
I pause to get ahold of my emotions. Savannah seems shocked by just the fact that he was arrested, but I’ve only just gotten started.
“There was a trial, but I was too young and my mom wouldn’t let me go. Eventually, he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to spend seven years in a Federal Penitentiary. I got to go see him a few times, but six months later he was stabbed to death during a prison riot.”
“Oh my God.” She gasps and covers her mouth. “Grayson, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. “You didn’t know, but I’m not done yet.”
“It gets worse?!”
Nodding, I start to rub my thumb over her hand in a soothing motion. “Before my father died, he was very adamant about one thing—he was innocent of the crimes he was accused of. That was one of two things that always stuck out in my mind. The other was that you and your father were dangerous, and I needed to stay away from you.”
“Me? I was only a kid,” she protests.
“Once I turned eighteen, I started looking into his case, and I found some inconsistencies that made me look even further. I remembered his warning and focused on researching your father. It turns out that during a business trip to Vegas, your dad discovered the thrill of gambling. Only, instead of doing it responsibly, he fell down a rabbit hole. He spent all of his savings, and when he ran out of money, he borrowed from some bad people. From what I’ve seen, he was betting big and only winning small amounts back. When the loan sharks came to collect, he didn’t have it, so he started to steal it from the company our fathers worked for.”
Her eyes show just how clear everything is starting to become.
“He didn’t,” she pleads, already seeing where I’m going with this.
My head drops. “The company found out within a matter of a few months, because of the high amounts that were going missing, and your dad set mine up to take the fall. He must have had help, because the whole case was practically rock solid, so I’m guessing he paid someone to cover his tracks. However, the biggest piece of evidence…” I pause and take a deep breath, knowing this is going to hurt her. “The biggest piece of evidence was a video. The deposition of a ten-year-old girl, saying she saw Mr. Hayworth stashing money under the floorboard in the den.”
Like a damn breaking, her tears flow like the waterfall in front of us. “No. No, no, no. I didn’t. Please, tell me I didn’t.”
I press my forehead against hers. “I’m so sorry, Savannah. I thought you knew.”
“I had no idea, I swear.” She holds her head as she sobs. “No wonder you hated me. You should! I’m a terrible person!”
“No.” I take her face between my hands, forcing her to look at me. “You were a child, manipulated into doing something by someone who should have been protecting you. This is not your fault.”
I hold her as she cries, both of us fully understanding that the events that tore us apart were out of our control. I may have come back here with the intention of getting revenge, but instead I got something so much more. Her.
“I really want to stay with you, but I promised Brady I’d help him with something at the studio.” She sniffles, wiping her eyes.
I nod and place a kiss to her forehead. “It’s okay. I’ll drive you. But Sav?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
As she exhales, her face breaks into a smile that takes my breath away. “I love you, too.”
AFTER DROPPING SAVANNAH OFF at the studio, I go home to find my mom in the living room. Home videos of me as a child play on the TV screen. As I see myself run around in a batman cape, with a paper towel tube as a sword, I laugh.
“I was so weird.”
“Yeah. You were always my favorite, though.”
A small laugh bubbles out of my mouth. “Favorite out of one. Look at me accomplishing greatness.”
I walk over to the pile of movies and put a different one in. As my mom presses play, I sit down next to her.
“Savannah, let’s go,” I tell her, getting impatient.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” She walks into the frame in her white leotard. “Jeez, Gray. You can’t rush perfection.”
Tessa and Delaney stand next to us, smiling as Savi walks toward me with fake flowers.
“Okay,” Laney starts. “We are gathered here today to join Grayson and Savannah is holy mattress-mony.” She turns to me. “Do you, Grayson, take Savannah to be your wife? To love even when she’s sick and gross?”
“I do.”
She smiles and turns to Savi. “And do you, Savannah, take Grayson to be your husband? To love even if he’s a stinky butthead?”
Savannah giggles. “I do.”
“Well, then, by the power vested in me, by the piece of cardboard that Tessa and I drew this morning, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now share a juice box.”
Savi takes the first sip and hands it to me to do the same. Then, we exchange pipe-cleaner rings and wave at the camera.
“Aw.” My mom presses a hand to her chest. “You two were the cutest.”
I can’t help but smile, hoping one day that fake wedding becomes a real one. “Yeah, we were.”
A HALF HOUR LATER, I’M working on an essay when my phone rings and Brady’s name appears on the screen. For a second, I wonder if Savannah’s phone died. She had mentioned coming over after they were done.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hey, Grayson.” Brady sounds less than thrilled to speak to me. “Can I talk to Savannah real fast? I just want to know if she’s going to be home for dinner, and she isn’t answering her phone.”
Everything goes ice cold in an instant. “Wait, what? I dropped her off at the studio almost an hour ago. She said she had to help you with something.”
“I haven’t been at the studio all day, and she and I definitely never made plans.”
It only takes a second for everything to click. Her knowing everything. How heartbroken she was about it. The determined look in her eyes when I dropped her off. No.