Chapter 5 - The Bible in Derek’s Office
Brooke searched quietly.
She checked Helen’s bedroom.
The kitchen cabinet where her mother kept old family papers.
The cedar chest at the foot of James’s former bed.
The Bible was nowhere.
When Brooke asked Helen, her mother looked confused.
“I thought you had it.”
Derek answered from the hallway.
“It was falling apart. I put it somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
“I don’t remember.”
Brooke stepped closer.
“My father gave that Bible to Mom.”
“And your mom asked me to organize the house.”
Helen opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Brooke knew that expression.
Her mother wanted to correct him but feared the conflict that would follow.
That night, Derek and Chloe left for dinner.
Brooke entered the small room Derek used as an office.
The door was locked.
She used the thin metal emergency key James had kept above the frame.
Inside, unpaid bills covered the desk.
A loan application listed the family house as Derek’s primary residence.
Another document claimed Helen intended to transfer the property to Chloe.
Brooke photographed everything.
Then she opened the bottom drawer.
The Bible lay beneath a stack of betting statements.
Its leather cover had been scratched.
Several pages were bent.
Brooke lifted it carefully.
A folded note protruded from the back lining.
Before she could remove it, headlights swept across the wall.
Chloe and Derek had returned.
Brooke slipped the Bible beneath her sweater.
She left the office seconds before Derek entered the hallway.
He looked at her.
“What were you doing?”
“Getting water.”
“From this side of the house?”
Brooke continued walking.
Derek grabbed her arm.
The Bible shifted beneath her scrubs.
His eyes dropped toward it.
“Give me that.”
“It belongs to Mom.”
“It belongs in the office.”
Brooke pulled away.
Derek’s hand tightened.
Then Helen appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Derek.”
He released Brooke.
Helen looked at the Bible.
For a moment, fear crossed her face.
Not sadness.
Fear.
Derek noticed too.
“What’s inside that thing?” he asked.
Helen shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Brooke carried the Bible into her room and locked the door.
She opened the back cover.
The folded note was not addressed to Helen.
It was addressed to Brooke.
Before she could read it, Chloe began pounding on the door.
“Derek says you stole private financial documents.”
Brooke slid the note into her scrub pocket.
“I photographed proof that he stole Mom’s mortgage payments.”
The hallway became silent.
Then Chloe said something that changed everything.
May you like
“Tomorrow, you’re leaving this house.”
👉 Brooke had not yet read her father’s hidden letter—but Chloe had already chosen Derek’s lies over her own sister.
