Chapter 1 - The Will That Shouldn't ExistThe phone nearly slipped from my hand.
I read the document again.
Then again.
Every sentence seemed to blur beneath my tears.
My grandmother had left me everything.
Her house.
Her company.
Her investments.
Her properties.
Everything she had spent sixty years building.
And now a document supposedly signed three days before her death claimed that all of it would belong to Madison if I failed to marry before my thirtieth birthday.
Forty-eight hours.
I looked at Madison.
She was still standing beneath the wedding arch.
Her white dress was stained with soot.
Her mascara had begun to run.
Yet she was smiling.
Not crying.
Smiling.
“You forged this,” I whispered.
Madison tilted her head.
“That's what you're going with?”
“My grandmother would never do this.”
“She did.”
“My grandmother hated legal surprises.”
Madison laughed softly.
“She hated losing control even more.”
I looked toward the police officers.
Agent Marcus Vance was still speaking with another officer near Ethan's car.
I ran toward him.
“Agent Vance!”
He turned.
“What happened?”
I shoved the phone toward him.
“My grandmother supposedly changed her will three days ago.”
He read it.
His expression became serious.
“Who is the medical proxy?”
I looked at the name.
“Madison.”
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
“Interesting.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you need a lawyer.”
“I already have one.”
“Call someone else.”
The way he said it made my stomach twist.
“Why?”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Because the attorney listed on this amendment is Richard Vance's personal attorney.”
Ethan's father.
I felt the ground shift beneath me.
“You're telling me my grandmother's will was changed by the same lawyer who represents the man you just arrested?”
“I am telling you that you should assume nothing in this document is accidental.”
Madison approached.
“Claire.”
I turned.
She looked almost sympathetic.
“You don't have to fight me.”
“You're stealing my grandmother's estate.”
“I am following her wishes.”
“You knew about this before tonight.”
She smiled.
“I knew enough.”
Then she leaned closer.
“You should have married Ethan.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because if you had, none of this would have happened.”
“That's not an answer.”
Madison's eyes hardened.
“It is when you understand the rules.”
She walked away.
I stood there in the ruined garden.
My wedding cake was still sitting untouched beneath the floral canopy.
Two hundred candles burned around it.
A celebration that had cost me nearly $90,000.
A celebration that was supposed to mark the beginning of my marriage.
Instead, it had exposed a criminal conspiracy.
I called my grandmother's attorney.
No answer.
I called again.
Straight to voicemail.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Claire?”
A man's voice.
Old.
Weak.
Frightened.
“Who is this?”
“My name is Thomas Reed.”
I froze.
Thomas Reed.
My grandmother's longtime accountant.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did everyone else.”
My heart began racing.
“Where are you?”
“I don't have much time.”
“Tell me what's happening.”
He whispered:
“Your grandmother never signed that amendment.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then whose signature is it?”
Thomas paused.
“Someone who had access to her medical records.”
“Who?”
“I can't say over the phone.”
“Then tell me where to meet you.”
He gave me an address.
An abandoned nursing facility on the east side.
Then he said something that made my blood run cold.
“Don't trust the person who tells you your grandmother died peacefully.”
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
My grandmother had died six weeks earlier.
I had been beside her bed.
I had held her hand.
I had watched her take her last breath.
At least, I thought I had.
I looked toward the house.
Suddenly, every memory felt wrong.
The nurses.
The medication.
The last week.
The strange sedatives.
The DNR.
Madison had been there every day.
She had been my grandmother's medical proxy.
I had trusted her.
My best friend.
My sister in everything but blood.
And now I wondered whether she had helped kill the woman who raised me.
I grabbed my coat.
Agent Vance stopped me.
“Where are you going?”
“To find out who murdered my grandmother.”
He stared at me.
“What makes you think she was murdered?”
I looked at him.
“Because a dead woman just signed a document three days ago.”
Marcus went silent.
Then he reached into his coat.
“I'll drive.”
We left the ruined wedding behind.
Neither of us noticed Madison watching from the upstairs window.
She lifted her phone.
“They know about Thomas.”
A man's voice answered.
“Then make sure Thomas never reaches the courthouse.”
Madison swallowed.
“And Claire?”
There was a pause.
“Let her find the truth.”
“Why?”
“Because when she does, she'll realize her grandmother didn't leave her an inheritance.”
May you like
The voice became colder.
“She left her a target.”
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