Chapter 4 - Claire's Lawyer Offered Me a Deal I Never ExpectedClaire's attorney contacted me.
He wanted to negotiate.
I refused.
“She should face trial.”
He said:
“She may be willing to cooperate.”
“With what?”
“Financial information.”
I stared at him.
“She's already been caught.”
“Not everything.”
That phrase stayed with me.
Not everything.
I agreed to hear him out.
Claire had apparently been hiding money.
She had accounts in other states.
She had transferred assets before my return.
She had also been working with Victor Lane.
But there was something else.
A second property.
My parents didn't know about it.
Neither did I.
Claire had found it through an old business record.
It belonged to my grandfather.
It had been transferred into a trust decades earlier.
And Claire believed it was worth nearly ten million dollars.
She wanted it.
That explained everything.
She hadn't just wanted my parents' farmhouse.
She wanted access to the entire family estate.
My grandfather had apparently anticipated this possibility.
The trust had restrictions.
Claire couldn't inherit anything.
Neither could I without meeting certain conditions.
The property was intended to remain protected.
I asked Daniel, my attorney:
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Your grandfather wanted you to build your own life first.”
I laughed bitterly.
“He succeeded.”
Then I asked:
“What happens to the property now?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Your decision.”
I didn't understand.
Then he explained.
The trust allowed me to choose whether to keep the property or sell it.
I thought about my parents.
The chicken coop.
The bruises.
The fear.
I knew exactly what I wanted.
I wanted to turn the property into something Claire could never have imagined.
A place where elderly people could live safely.
A place with warm rooms.
Fresh food.
May you like
Medical care.
A place where nobody was treated like a burden.
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