Chapter 2
I stared at the photograph until Daniel's face seemed to move.
“He told me he never went upstairs.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“Upstairs where?”
“The hospital.”
My voice barely worked.
“The night Mom died, I asked him to stay in the family waiting room because she didn't want visitors.”
Thomas leaned over the photograph.
“Who took this?”
“I don't know.”
“Was there security footage?”
“The hospital said older footage had already been overwritten by the time probate began.”
He lifted the printed page carefully.
“Someone wants you to know Daniel was there.”
“Or Daniel wants to scare me.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“If he sent it, why expose himself?”
Maybe because he thought it didn't matter anymore.
Maybe because he believed he had already won.
I felt something inside me change.
The grief was still there.
The fear too.
But beneath both came anger.
Clean.
Focused.
“What do we do?”
Thomas answered first.
“We stop reacting.”
“My husband stole my mother's will and is moving millions of dollars.”
“I know.”
“He may have been in her hospital room before she died.”
“I know.”
“And you want me to sit here?”
“I want you to stop behaving like a frightened spouse and start behaving like the legal beneficiary of an estate someone is trying to steal.”
His words hit hard.
Rebecca nodded.
“First, freeze what we can.”
She began calling the bank.
Thomas contacted a forensic technology firm.
I called no one.
Not yet.
By midnight, the pending transfer had been stopped.
The destination account belonged to an LLC called Hawthorne Advisory.
I had never heard of it.
Thomas had.
“Formed eighteen months ago.”
“By Daniel?”
“Not directly.”
“Who owns it?”
“Another LLC.”
Of course.
Daniel had always mocked complicated corporate structures.
Apparently he only disliked them when they weren't useful to him.
At 12:40 a.m., Thomas discovered someone had remotely accessed my home network.
“From where?”
“Too early to know.”
“Can they see us?”
“Possibly.”
My stomach tightened.
He disconnected the smart-home system from the internet.
Cameras.
Locks.
Printer.
Everything went dark.
For the first time, I realized how much of our house Daniel had controlled through his phone.
Thermostat.
Gate.
Garage.
Alarm.
Even lights.
My home suddenly felt like an occupied country.
Rebecca refused to leave me alone.
Neither did Thomas.
At 2:00 a.m., we sat around my kitchen table drinking coffee.
I finally asked the question I'd been avoiding.
“What did Mom think Daniel wanted?”
Rebecca sighed.
“The company.”
“Carter Biotech?”
“Yes.”
“I don't run it.”
“No, but you own forty-one percent through trusts.”
“My uncle controls the board.”
“For now.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother's public will leaves most of her voting shares to your uncle Victor.”
“I know.”
“The secret will apparently changes that.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“How?”
“She never told me exact percentages.”
“You were her attorney.”
“Estate counsel handled the final document separately.”
“Who?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Charles Whitmore.”
The dead notary.
My skin prickled.
“He wrote the secret will?”
“He helped draft it.”
“Then Daniel forged his name because he knew Charles couldn't contradict him.”
“That is one possibility.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“When did Daniel first meet your uncle?”
“After our engagement.”
“Relationship?”
“Good.”
Too good, suddenly.
Daniel and Victor played golf together.
Attended conferences.
Shared whiskey in Victor's study.
My uncle had told me more than once that Daniel was “the kind of man the Carter family needed.”
I swallowed.
“Could Victor be involved?”
Rebecca didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
At 8:00 a.m., I called Carter Biotech's general counsel.
She didn't answer.
At 8:05, my company email stopped working.
At 8:11, Victor called.
I stared at his name on the screen.
Rebecca mouthed, “Speaker.”
I answered.
“Emily.”
His voice was warm.
Almost fatherly.
“Are you all right?”
“What happened to my email?”
Silence.
Then a sigh.
“Daniel called me.”
My stomach twisted.
“What did he say?”
“That the two of you are separating.”
“That doesn't explain my email.”
“He also said you were emotionally unstable.”
Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
I gripped the phone.
“What?”
“He said your mother's death has affected you more deeply than we realized.”
I laughed once.
It sounded ugly.
“So you locked me out of my own company account?”
“Temporarily.”
“On Daniel's word?”
“He provided documents.”
“What documents?”
“A medical authorization.”
My blood turned cold.
“What medical authorization?”
“He says you signed a temporary power of attorney.”
“I did not.”
Victor became quiet.
I continued.
“He stole documents from my safe last night.”
“Emily.”
“He forged my signature.”
“Slow down.”
“No.”
My voice sharpened.
“Don't tell me to slow down.”
Rebecca nodded approval.
Victor sighed.
“I understand you're upset.”
Those words made me angrier than yelling would have.
“You sound exactly like him.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
A pause.
Then Victor's voice hardened.
“You need to be careful making accusations.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother was not well before she died.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What did you say?”
“She became paranoid.”
Rebecca wrote something on paper.
ASK HOW HE KNOWS ABOUT WILL.
I swallowed.
“Paranoid about what?”
“People stealing from her.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“She had reason.”
“Emily, grief can distort memories.”
“She wasn't grieving.”
“She was dying.”
“And afraid.”
Victor went silent.
I asked the question.
“Did she tell you about the second will?”
Nothing.
Not even breathing.
That silence lasted too long.
“Victor?”
He finally replied.
“There is no valid second will.”
Rebecca stood.
Thomas's eyes sharpened.
I whispered, “I never said it was valid.”
Silence again.
“How did you know?”
Victor disconnected.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Thomas said quietly, “Your uncle is involved.”
I wanted to deny it.
Victor had taken me to father-daughter dances after Dad died.
He paid for my college graduation party.
He walked me down the aisle when I married Daniel.
Family memories crashed against the new reality.
Rebecca reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
Not because of her.
Because I couldn't stand being touched.
My phone rang again.
Unknown number.
Thomas motioned for me to answer.
“Hello?”
A woman whispered.
“Is this Emily Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Anna Whitmore.”
Rebecca stiffened.
Charles Whitmore's daughter.
“I need to meet you.”
“About what?”
“My father.”
My pulse jumped.
“What about him?”
“He left something for you.”
“Where?”
“He told me not to contact you unless someone tried to invalidate your mother's final will.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“Someone already has.”
Anna's breathing changed.
“Then it's happening.”
“What is?”
“The reason your mother changed everything.”
I gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
She gave me the name of a diner forty minutes away.
Thomas shook his head.
Too risky.
I ignored him.
“We'll be there.”
Anna stopped me.
“No lawyers.”
Rebecca frowned.
“No police.”
Thomas mouthed, Bad idea.
Then Anna whispered something that made all three of us go silent.
“And don't bring Daniel's brother.”
I frowned.
“Daniel doesn't have a brother.”
Anna breathed in sharply.
“Yes, he does.”
My mouth went dry.
“No.”
May you like
“Emily, your husband has been lying to you since the day you met.”
Then the line went dead.
