Chapter 1 - The Final Word
The church remained so silent that I could hear the hum of the overhead lights.
My father stood frozen in the front pew with his face turning a dangerous shade of red.
My mother dropped her tissue, her performance of the grieving daughter-in-law completely shattered.
The pastor adjusted his glasses, looking incredibly uncomfortable under the weight of a hundred staring eyes.
He cleared his throat and continued reading the cream-colored paper.
"I leave my entire estate, my home, and my accounts to my granddaughter, Maya," he read aloud.
"John has taken enough from me in life, and he will take nothing in my death."
Gasps rippled through the congregation.
People who had just offered my father their deepest sympathies were now whispering behind their hands.
My father turned around and locked eyes with me.
His expression was not one of sorrow, but of absolute fury.
He marched down the center aisle right toward where I sat in the back row.
"What did you do?" he hissed, leaning over my pew.
"You manipulated a dying woman to steal my inheritance."
I looked up at him, feeling the exact same coldness he had shown me in the hospital waiting room.
"She wasn't dying when she wrote it," I replied calmly.
"She was just tired of your lies."
He reached out to grab my arm, uncaring that we were in the middle of a sanctuary.
Before his fingers could touch me, a tall man in a charcoal suit stepped between us.
"I am Arthur Vance, Mrs. Ruth's estate attorney," the man said firmly.
"If you touch my client, I will have you arrested for assault before the casket is in the ground."
My father backed away, his fists clenched at his sides.
"This isn't over, Maya," he threatened in a low whisper.
"I will tie this estate up in probate court for decades if I have to."
Mr. Vance turned to me and handed me a small, heavy brass key.
"We have a massive problem, Maya," the lawyer whispered so only I could hear.
"Your grandmother left you the estate, but she also left you a terrible secret."
I stared at the strange key in the palm of my hand.
May you like
"What does this open?" I asked, my heart pounding.
"It opens a vault downtown, and you need to see what is inside before your father finds out it exists."
