Chapter 1 - “Mom! Help Me!”Rebecca heard Ethan scream before she had fully closed the front door.
“MOM! HELP ME!”
Her suitcase fell from her hand.
She ran.
Not toward the stairs.
The scream came from the living room.
Rebecca rounded the doorway and stopped so abruptly that pain shot through her ankle.
Her ten-year-old son was on the floor.
“Ethan!”
His face was wet with tears.
Several small white pills were scattered across the hardwood beside him.
And kneeling over him was Rebecca’s younger sister.
Priscilla.
One of Priscilla’s hands was wrapped around Ethan’s wrist.
The other pressed against his shoulder.
“LET HIM GO!”
Priscilla jerked around.
For one strange second, she looked as frightened as Ethan.
Then she released him.
“Rebecca?”
Rebecca rushed forward and pulled Ethan against her.
“What happened?”
Ethan grabbed her blouse with both hands.
“Mom—”
“I’m here.”
Rebecca looked over his face.
No blood.
No obvious injury.
“Did you take anything?”
“No!”
“Did you swallow any of those pills?”
“No!”
Priscilla stood slowly.
She looked terrible.
Her normally perfect blond hair hung unevenly around her face.
Her eyes were unfocused.
Her blouse had been buttoned incorrectly.
“Rebecca?”
Something in her voice made Rebecca look up.
“What?”
“Why are you here?”
Rebecca stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
Priscilla rubbed both hands against her temples.
“You were supposed to be in Chicago.”
“My meetings ended early.”
“No.”
Priscilla shook her head.
“I mean…”
Her face tightened.
“I don’t remember.”
Rebecca moved Ethan behind her.
“Remember what?”
“How I got here.”
Silence.
Rebecca almost laughed from disbelief.
“This is my house.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you acting like you woke up in a stranger’s kitchen?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan tugged Rebecca’s hand.
“Mom.”
She looked down.
He pointed beneath the coffee table.
A black leather bag sat half-open against one leg.
Rebecca recognized it.
Priscilla had carried that bag for years.
“Mom, I looked inside.”
Priscilla’s expression changed.
It lasted one second.
Maybe less.
But Rebecca saw it.
“What did you see?”
Ethan swallowed.
“Papers.”
“What papers?”
“A will.”
Rebecca frowned.
“What?”
“Another will.”
Priscilla went pale.
Ethan continued.
“It had Grandpa’s name.”
Rebecca slowly turned toward her sister.
Priscilla’s lips parted.
Nothing came out.
Rebecca stared.
“You just told me you don’t remember why you’re here.”
“I don’t.”
“But you know what he’s talking about.”
“No.”
“Priscilla.”
“I said no.”
Too fast.
Rebecca moved toward the bag.
Priscilla stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Rebecca stopped.
Ethan tightened his grip on her hand.
That one word settled something.
“You know exactly what’s inside.”
“I know what might be inside.”
“What does that mean?”
Priscilla looked toward the pills on the floor.
Then the bag.
Then Ethan.
Her breathing changed.
“I need to leave.”
Rebecca laughed in disbelief.
“You were holding my son on the floor next to a handful of pills, and now you want to leave?”
“I wasn’t hurting him.”
“Then explain what I walked in on.”
Priscilla covered her mouth.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know!”
Her voice cracked.
That sounded real.
Rebecca hated that.
It would have been easier if Priscilla looked calculating.
Instead she looked terrified.
Ethan whispered:
“She grabbed me because I picked one up.”
Rebecca turned.
“One of the pills?”
“Yes.”
Priscilla immediately said:
“I was stopping him from taking it.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Then why were the pills here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are they yours?”
“No.”
“Were they in your bag?”
Priscilla’s face changed again.
Ethan answered.
“Yes.”
Rebecca stared at her sister.
Priscilla whispered:
“I didn’t put them there.”
Rebecca stepped toward the black bag.
This time Priscilla didn’t stop her.
Rebecca opened it.
A wallet.
Keys.
A bottle of water.
A blue scarf.
Then a thick cream-colored document folder.
She removed it.
Across the front:
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HAROLD BENNETT.
Her father.
Dead eleven months.
Rebecca’s hands went cold.
Harold’s will had already been probated.
Rebecca knew every page.
She and Priscilla inherited equal shares in most personal assets.
A family trust held the larger business interests.
Miles Carrow, Harold’s attorney for twenty-eight years, served as executor and trustee.
That document was dated January 8.
The one in Rebecca’s hand was dated January 26.
Eighteen days later.
Three weeks before Harold died.
“What the hell?”
Priscilla sat on the edge of a chair.
Rebecca opened the document.
Page one looked formal.
Witnessed.
Notarized.
Her father’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Rebecca flipped through.
Several provisions had been crossed out and replaced.
Then she reached Article Seven.
She stopped.
The family trust.
Control of Harold’s voting shares would no longer remain under Miles Carrow.
An independent fiduciary would be appointed.
A substantial portion would be held for Ethan until adulthood.
Rebecca read the paragraph twice.
Then Article Nine.
Upon my death, a forensic review shall be conducted of all transactions approved by Miles Carrow or Carrow Fiduciary Services during the preceding seven years.
Rebecca looked up.
Priscilla was crying now.
“You knew.”
“I knew Dad changed something.”
“How?”
“He called me.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Rebecca stared.
“You never told me.”
Priscilla whispered:
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Miles.”
Rebecca felt the room shift.
Before she could ask another question, Ethan pulled lightly on her sleeve.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“There’s another page.”
He pointed.
A loose sheet had fallen from the folder.
Rebecca picked it up.
Not part of the will.
A handwritten note.
Her father’s handwriting.
Rebecca,
If this copy reaches you, then someone prevented the original from reaching probate.
Do not assume Priscilla betrayed you.
Do not assume she didn’t.
Find out who put Miles Carrow in control of your son’s money.
Rebecca stopped breathing.
She looked at Ethan.
Then at Priscilla.
“My son’s money?”
Priscilla lowered her eyes.
Rebecca turned the page over.
One more sentence.
And whatever you do, do not let Miles know Ethan saw the second will.
Too late.
Rebecca’s phone began ringing.
May you like
The screen showed one name.
MILES CARROW.
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