My Sister’s Secret System Picked the Wrong Victim Chapter 08

My Sister’s Secret System Picked the Wrong Victim Chapter 08

The next few days, the house felt covered in a layer of gray.

Mom and Dad barely spoke.

Every so often, their eyes would meet, then dart away again.

Chelsea’s door stayed shut.

Nobody went in.

Mom and Dad started trying to be nicer to me, but I didn’t feel touched by it anymore.

No warmth.

No relief.

Just nothing.

I kept going to my coffee shop job every day like always.

After my shift, I would stop by Grandma’s for dinner.

Grandma never asked too many questions.

Every time she saw me, she just smiled and said, “Eat more, sweetheart.”

A few comments trickled by.

[Grandma is the only warmth in this whole story.]

[Mom and Dad must be tearing themselves apart right now.]

[Once the investigation wraps up, everything will come out.]

On the fifth day, Cousin Jake called and told the whole family to come down to the police department.

“The preliminary results are in,” he said, his voice heavy.

“You should come.”

Mom and Dad changed into clean clothes.

Nobody said a word the whole ride.

I sat in the back, watching the street slide past the window, feeling strangely calm.

More comments rolled through.

[Finally, some answers.]

[There’s no hiding Chelsea’s system now.]

[Wonder how Mom and Dad are going to react to this.]

The conference room was packed.

Besides the lead detective from before, there were two digital-forensics specialists with laptops and evidence cases, and a middle-aged man in glasses.

He introduced himself as Special Agent Reynolds from the Federal Anomalous Technology Task

Force.

Chelsea sat at the far end of the long table, her head down and her hair a mess.

Special Agent Reynolds opened a folder.

“After a technical forensic review, we found an encrypted program of unknown origin installed on Chelsea Bennett’s phone.”

“This program has an unconventional ability to alter data and move funds from other people’s accounts under specific conditions.”

Mom’s hands gripped the arms of her chair.

“The program activates whenever food or drink intentionally given by Chelsea Bennett is consumed,” Reynolds continued.

“The system’s marker remains active even if the item is broken apart or mixed into other food.”

“It simultaneously falsifies bank records and available security footage to make it look like the account holder acted on their own.”

Dad’s voice was tight.

“And the money?”

“All receiving funds have been frozen. The banks will return them according to the original

transaction records.”

Reynolds turned to me.

“Josie Bennett, since you were ten years old, a total of sixty-eight thousand dollars has been transferred out of accounts belonging to you and into Chelsea Bennett’s account.”

“The losses you remembered were only part of it. We found dozens of smaller transfers as well.

“That money will be returned.”

The room went quiet.

Dad turned to look at me, his lips trembling.

Reynolds added, “One more thing. The thirty thousand dollars you transferred to your grandmother three days before the graduation dinner was a normal transaction, unrelated to the program.”

I nodded.

Mom suddenly collapsed into her chair, her hands over her face, sobbing.

“How did I raise a daughter like this? How…”

Dad didn’t move to comfort her.

He just sat there, his head down and his shoulders shaking.

After a long moment, he stood, walked over to me, and spoke, his voice hoarse.

“Josie… I was wrong about you. Why didn’t you ever tell me any of this?”

My eyes stung, but no tears came.

“I did tell you.”

“Every single time money went missing, I said it wasn’t me.”

“Nobody believed me.”

Dad’s shoulders jerked, and he slowly sank into the nearest chair.

Mom cried even harder.

Chelsea finally spoke, her voice thin and cracked.

“Mom… Dad… I’m sorry…”

But her eyes swept past everyone else in the room and landed on me last.

Something bitter and unresolved flickered in them.

A quieter wave of comments passed through.

[She’s still holding onto hatred for Josie?]

[She clearly doesn’t think she did anything wrong.]

Uncle Mike had arrived too and was standing awkwardly by the door.

He walked in and patted my shoulder.

“Josie, I said some things earlier that I shouldn’t have. Don’t take them to heart.”

Aunt Linda followed behind him, her head down.

“Josie, we were blind.”

Uncle Dan didn’t say anything.

He just gave me an apologetic nod.

A few more comments followed.

[Even the relatives are apologizing now.]

[They sure had a lot to say when they were dragging Josie earlier.]

Chelsea watched all of it, crying even harder, her lips trembling.

She finally understood.

This time, nobody was on her side anymore.

Special Agent Reynolds closed the folder.

“The earlier incidents that occurred while Chelsea was a minor will be reviewed separately.”

“Federal prosecutors will focus on the graduation-dinner transfers, the altered financial records,

and the anomalous program itself.”

“Everyone else is free to go.”

Outside the police station, the sun was bright and clear.

My phone buzzed.

A text from Grandma.

“Sweetheart, coming for dinner tonight? I made pot roast.”

I let a small smile pull at my mouth and typed back one word.

“Coming.”