Chapter 3
I didn’t tell Ryan what Claire had said.
I simply turned and walked toward the house.
“Emily!”
I kept moving.
“Emily, we’re not finished!”
The security guards blocked him when he reached for the gate.
I heard Diane scream that I was stealing her son’s future.
The irony almost made me stop.
Almost.
Inside, I locked the front doors and hurried upstairs.
My father’s old office was at the end of the west hallway.
I rarely used it.
Ryan had never been allowed inside.
The door required a code and fingerprint.
When I entered, the desk lamp was on.
I stopped breathing.
I always turned it off.
Always.
I looked around.
Nothing seemed disturbed.
Then I saw the lower filing drawer.
Open.
Only an inch.
But open.
“Claire,” I whispered into the phone. “Someone was in here.”
“Don’t touch anything.”
My pulse hammered.
“The room is locked.”
“Was Ryan ever given access?”
“No.”
“Diane?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Staff?”
“House manager and cleaning supervisor. Both have documented access.”
I looked toward the small camera above the bookshelf.
“Security footage.”
“I’m sending a forensic investigator.”
I pulled up the house system on my phone.
The office camera showed an error message.
OFFLINE: 4:12 P.M.–7:48 P.M.
My wedding reception had ended last night.
Today, Diane had spent hours telling the staff they could go home because “the family needed privacy.”
At the time, I had thought she was being controlling.
Now I wondered if privacy had been the point.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“The office camera was disabled.”
Silence.
Then, “Do not confront him.”
I almost smiled.
“That advice is about twenty-five hours late.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
A knock came from downstairs.
Not the front door.
The side entrance.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
My father’s old signal.
I froze.
Only a handful of people knew it.
I checked the camera.
My older cousin Daniel stood outside.
I ran down and opened the door.
He came in wearing jeans and a dark jacket, his expression hard.
Daniel had managed part of the family trust since my father died.
He hugged me once.
Then he looked at my cheek.
“You’re red.”
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
I told him everything.
The broom.
Diane.
Ryan.
The attempted account access.
By the end, Daniel looked like he wanted to tear the gate off with his hands.
“I warned you about him.”
I stiffened.
“No, you warned me because you didn’t like that he came from nothing.”
“That was never why.”
“You called him ambitious.”
“Because he asked me how inheritance law worked three weeks after meeting you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Daniel’s face softened.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“He cornered me at your birthday dinner last year. Asked whether family trusts became marital property.”
The room suddenly felt cold.
“What did you tell him?”
“That Carter assets were protected.”
“And?”
“He laughed. Said he was only curious.”
I sat down.
Ryan had proposed two months later.
Daniel crouched in front of me.
“Emily.”
I hated the pity in his voice.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not saying he never cared about you.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
A security alert sounded.
FRONT GATE: VISITOR REQUEST.
I opened the camera.
Ryan stood there.
Beside him was a man in a gray suit.
Diane stood behind them, smiling.
Daniel leaned over my shoulder.
“That’s Victor Lane.”
“You know him?”
“Divorce attorney.”
My stomach dropped.
Twenty-five hours.
He had found a divorce lawyer in twenty-five hours.
The intercom buzzed.
Ryan spoke first.
“Emily, my lawyer says you cannot lock me out of the marital residence.”
Victor stepped closer.
“We’d prefer to resolve this peacefully.”
Daniel pressed the intercom.
“It isn’t the marital residence.”
Ryan’s face changed.
“Daniel?”
“Hi, Ryan.”
Victor looked interested.
Daniel continued.
“The property is owned by Carter Residential Trust Three. Emily has occupancy rights. You have none.”
Victor whispered something to Ryan.
Ryan’s confidence slipped.
Then Diane stepped forward.
“She invited him to live there.”
Daniel smiled without humor.
“Then she uninvited him.”
I watched Ryan’s expression.
Something dark settled into it.
“Fine,” he said.
He raised his phone.
“But if she wants a war, she should know I have evidence too.”
I pressed the intercom.
“Evidence of what?”
Ryan stared directly into the camera.
“That your father didn’t leave you that trust legally.”
My blood turned cold.
Daniel went still beside me.
May you like
Ryan smiled.
“And I know because I found the real will.”
