Chapter 4 - Rebecca Knew Too MuchGeorge’s daughter realized what she had said.
The room changed.
David closed the briefcase slowly.
Maria stared.
Rebecca recovered fast.
“What?”
George’s voice remained calm.
“How did you know something was taken?”
Rebecca blinked.
“I assumed.”
“From what?”
“You’re all staring at the briefcase.”
“That tells you papers are missing?”
“No, but—”
“Which papers?”
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“Dad, stop interrogating me.”
George had seen that defense since she was a teenager.
Attack the question.
Avoid the answer.
“Which papers?”
“I don’t know.”
“You asked if Ethan took them.”
“Because Ethan has been acting strangely.”
“Today?”
“For weeks.”
George leaned back.
“So you suspected your son might steal from my attorney’s briefcase.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it immediately.”
Rebecca’s composure cracked.
“This is ridiculous.”
George looked at David.
“Close the door.”
Rebecca stared.
“What is happening?”
George pressed play.
The recording filled the room.
Ethan laughing.
George pleading.
The stones.
Then:
This better work.
Rebecca’s face lost color.
The recording continued.
I only need one.
Rebecca covered her mouth.
“No.”
George watched every reaction.
“That’s Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“He put you under the hive?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We hoped you could explain.”
Rebecca turned.
“You think I was involved?”
“I think your son knew information from my medical records.”
Her expression shifted.
“What information?”
“My allergy status.”
Rebecca went still.
George continued.
“He says you told him.”
“I didn’t.”
That answer came immediately.
Too immediately?
George did not know.
Rebecca walked toward the window.
“Where is he?”
“Upstairs.”
She turned sharply.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Maria said:
“That choice of words may not be ideal right now.”
Rebecca looked at her.
Then almost laughed.
Almost.
The tension broke for half a second.
Then Rebecca sat.
“I didn’t tell him about your medical file.”
George studied her.
“Has he had access to your laptop?”
She hesitated.
“My home laptop?”
“Any device with your healthcare portal.”
Rebecca’s face changed.
She knew.
“Last month.”
“What happened?”
“My laptop died. Ethan helped recover some files.”
George closed his eyes.
There it was.
Maybe.
David asked:
“Could passwords have been saved?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca rubbed her forehead.
“Oh God.”
George remained quiet.
She looked at him.
“What were the documents?”
He waited.
“Dad.”
“An estate amendment.”
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“Of course.”
George noticed the bitterness.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you had a bad afternoon and instantly turn everything into inheritance.”
“You just learned your son may have tried to cause a medical event.”
“And your next sentence is about your will.”
“No. My next sentence is about motive.”
Rebecca stared.
George continued.
“The amendment limited Ethan’s direct access to inheritance.”
Her mouth tightened.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“And me?”
George did not answer.
That answer was enough.
Rebecca laughed softly.
“You were cutting me out.”
“Changing your authority.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
“To you.”
George felt disappointment.
Not because she cared about money.
Most people did.
Because she cared at this moment.
“Your son placed me beneath a beehive.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“I’m trying to understand.”
“Then understand this first.”
Silence.
David asked Rebecca whether she knew about tomorrow’s signing.
“No.”
“Did Ethan?”
“No.”
“Did you discuss your father’s estate review with him?”
Rebecca hesitated.
George saw it.
“What did you say?”
She looked at the floor.
“I told him you were probably changing things.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What else?”
“That you were angry about the foundation payments.”
George’s jaw tightened.
Those payments.
“What did Ethan say?”
“He said you always threaten people with money.”
George almost smiled.
The words sounded like Ethan.
Then Rebecca added:
“He said maybe it would be easier if you weren’t making decisions anymore.”
Silence.
Maria stared.
David stopped writing.
George looked at his daughter.
“And what did you say?”
“I told him not to talk like that.”
“Exactly?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t think he meant…”
She stopped.
George waited.
“What?”
“He asked me something later.”
“What?”
Rebecca looked ashamed.
“He asked what would happen if you had another stroke before signing anything.”
George felt the room narrow.
“What did you tell him?”
“I said the existing documents would remain unless a court found you incapacitated.”
David looked at her.
“You told him that?”
“I didn’t think—”
“No,” George said quietly.
“You didn’t.”
Rebecca flinched.
George’s anger vanished.
Something worse replaced it.
Clarity.
Ethan did not need to kill him.
He needed George incapacitated.
A heart event.
A stroke.
A hospital stay.
Enough to delay the amendment.
Enough for the existing control structure to stay alive.
Rebecca’s phone rang.
She looked down.
Ethan.
Everyone saw the name.
George said:
“Answer.”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Speaker.”
She answered.
“Ethan?”
His breathing was fast.
“Mom, you need to come upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Just come.”
“What happened?”
A pause.
Then Ethan whispered:
“I found the papers.”
Everyone froze.
Rebecca looked at George.
George’s face became stone.
“Where?”
Ethan answered:
“In Grandpa’s safe.”
George felt a chill.
The missing amendment had not vanished from David’s briefcase.
Someone had taken it.
Opened George’s private safe.
Then put it there.
Why?
Before anyone could speak, Ethan continued:
“And Mom…”
“What?”
“There’s something else in here.”
His voice changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“A letter from Grandma.”
George stopped breathing.
His wife, Eleanor, had been dead eleven years.
May you like
And Ethan whispered:
“It says she knew what you did.”
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