After dinner, I was washing my hands in the bathroom when Diane slipped in. She closed the door behind her.

“Hey,” she said.

I met her eyes in the mirror.

“I’m sorry about her. I know she’s been difficult.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not.” Diane bit her lip. “Listen… there’s something I need to tell you. But not here.”

My chest tightened.

“What do you mean?”

“Can we meet tomorrow? Just us?”

The urgency in her voice made my stomach knot.

“Okay,” I said. “Tomorrow.”

She nodded once, then left.

What did Ryan’s sister know that I didn’t?

We met at a coffee shop the next morning, one of those places with reclaimed wood tables and chalkboard menus and a constant hiss of steamed milk. Diane was already there when I arrived, stirring a latte she hadn’t touched.

She looked nervous.

That made two of us.

“Thanks for coming,” she said as I sat down.

“You’re scaring me a little. What’s going on?”

Diane took a breath.

“I work at First National. You know that. I handle transactions for the branch.”

I nodded.

“Last week, I was processing account reviews—routine stuff.”

She paused.

“I came across a withdrawal from your joint savings. Yours and Ryan’s.”

“Okay.”

“Eleven thousand, Ensley.”

The number hit me like cold water.

“That’s… that’s not right.”

“Ryan didn’t mention any withdrawal because he didn’t make it.” Diane’s voice dropped. “The authorization came through a linked account. Someone with secondary access.”

My throat went dry.

“Who has secondary access to our savings?”

She looked at me, and I knew.

“Ryan added her years ago,” Diane said quietly. “Before you were married. For emergencies, he said.”

Patricia took $11,000 from our account.

She didn’t take it officially. She transferred it through the linked access.

Diane slid a piece of paper across the table.

“Here’s the statement. The date matches her new antique collection she’s been bragging about.”

I stared at the numbers—black ink on white paper, undeniable.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Diane met my eyes.

“Because it’s wrong. And you deserve to know.”

I folded the paper carefully and slipped it into my purse.

“Does Ryan know?”

“I don’t think so.”

Eleven thousand dollars gone without a word to either of us.

“What are you going to do?” Diane asked.

I didn’t answer because I didn’t know yet.

But I knew one thing.

I wasn’t going to pretend this was okay.