Chapter 1 - The Secret Demand
The caller ID showed the name of my father's estate attorney, Arthur Vance.
I cleared my throat and answered with a shaky voice.
Arthur offered his condolences before his tone shifted to something strictly professional.
He asked if I was alone and if Mark was anywhere nearby.
I told him I was standing inside my father's empty bedroom.
Arthur let out a heavy sigh that made my stomach twist into a tight knot.
He asked me a question that made the entire room spin around me.
"Clare, did your husband tell you about the aggressive buyout offer he presented to your father last Tuesday?"
I felt my breath catch in my throat.
"What buyout offer?" I asked defensively.
Arthur explained that Mark had visited my father's office demanding a two-million-dollar advance on my future inheritance.
Mark had claimed it was a guaranteed business investment that could not wait.
When my father flatly refused, a massive screaming match had erupted in the hallway.
I lowered myself onto the edge of my father's mattress.
My husband had visited my dad just forty-eight hours before his fatal heart attack.
Mark had never mentioned a single word about seeing my father that week.
In fact, Mark had explicitly told me he was out of town on a business trip that Tuesday.
My hands began to tremble violently as I stared at my father's reading glasses.
Arthur then dropped the final, devastating piece of information.
"Your father called me immediately after Mark left to make an emergency amendment to his will."
May you like
Arthur paused for a long, agonizing moment.
"But before I explain the amendment, you need to look inside your father's bottom desk drawer right now."
