Chloe arrived precisely as she’d promised, striding into the house with a leather briefcase in one hand and a bottle of expensive Cabernet in the other.
“Figured this might be necessary,” she announced, setting the wine on the polished surface of my father’s desk in his study.
I was still sitting on the edge of his worn leather chair, the unopened envelope resting in my lap. The room was saturated with the familiar, comforting scent of his pipe tobacco and old books, an aroma I couldn’t bear to think of being replaced by the smell of fresh paint from Jessica’s renovations.
“You still haven’t opened it?” Chloe gestured toward the envelope as she set down her briefcase with a solid thud.
“I was waiting for you,” I admitted, turning it over in my hands again. “After what Jessica said… about Ethan helping them…”
“Then open it,” Chloe insisted, already uncorking the wine and pouring two generous glasses. “Your father was meticulous about timing. He wanted certain things to come to light at very specific moments.”
My head shot up. “What are you talking about?”
She passed me a glass. “Just open the letter, Maddie.”
With unsteady fingers, I tore open the seal. Inside, there was a single, folded sheet of stationery and a small, ornate brass key.
“My dearest Maddie,» I began to read aloud, and it felt as if my father’s voice were right there in the room with me. “If you are reading this, it means the vultures have already started to circle the estate. Knowing a thing or two about human nature, my guess is that Jessica was the first to arrive. She always did have the soul of a shark: all teeth and no conscience.”
Chloe let out a wry snort into her wineglass.
“The key enclosed will open the bottom right-hand drawer of my desk. Inside, you will find a package containing everything you need to defend what is rightfully yours. Always remember the lessons I taught you from our chess games. Sometimes, you must be willing to sacrifice a pawn to save your queen. All my love, Dad.”
I looked up at Chloe, who was already rounding the desk. “You were in on this?”
“I helped him draft the legal framework,” she confessed, pointing for me to use the key. “Your father came to my office about six months ago, not long after he received his diagnosis. He knew exactly how this entire sordid affair would unfold.”
The lock turned with a soft, satisfying click. The drawer slid open to reveal a thick manila envelope and a small USB flash drive.
“Before you dive into that,” Chloe said, perching on the edge of the desk. “There’s something you must understand about the will reading tomorrow. Your father added a codicil just three days before he passed away.”
“A what?”
“It’s a legal amendment to the will. And believe me when I say, it is going to change the entire game.”
I emptied the contents of the manila envelope onto the desk’s leather surface. Dozens of photographs spilled out. Jessica meeting with an unknown man in a dimly lit parking garage. Mark entering the offices of a law firm that wasn’t Chloe’s. There were bank statements and printouts of emails.
“Dad had them investigated?”
“He did better than that,” Chloe’s smile was razor-sharp. “He had them followed. And that flash drive contains security footage of Jessica attempting to bribe one of your father’s nurses for details about his will, just two days before he died.”
My hand shook as I picked up a photograph of Jessica sitting at a cafe. The man across the table from her was my brother.
“Is that… Ethan?”
“Meeting with Jessica three weeks before your father’s death,” Chloe confirmed. “But now, look at this next one.”
The second photo showed my brother leaving that same meeting. His expression was a mask of pure revulsion, and in his hand, he was holding a cashier’s check.
“He kept the check as proof,” Chloe explained. “He took it directly to your father. That’s when Miles knew he had to accelerate his plans.”
“But Jessica said Ethan was helping them. That he was being cooperative.”
“Your brother has been walking a very dangerous line, Maddie. He’s been feeding them just enough misleading information to make them feel confident and secure, all while secretly helping your father compile the evidence of their conspiracy against you.”
I sank back into the massive chair, my head swimming. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because your father needed Jessica to make the first move, to show her hand without reservation,” Chloe said, pulling a sheaf of documents from her own briefcase. “Tomorrow, when I begin the reading, Jessica and Mark are going to believe they’ve won. The initial terms of the will are going to grant them a substantial portion of the estate.”
“What?” I shot to my feet so quickly that my wineglass tipped, spilling a dark red stain onto the antique Persian rug.
“Let me finish,” Chloe said, holding up a hand to calm me. “That’s the bait. That is the pawn your father was willing to sacrifice. The codicil is designed as a trap. The very moment they formally accept their inheritance, they will trigger a clause that makes all of this—the photos, the videos, the evidence of bribery and fraud—a matter of public record and grounds for immediate legal action.”
I stared at the damning evidence spread across the desk as understanding began to dawn. “He’s letting them think they’ve won, just so they’ll publicly incriminate themselves.”
“Precisely,” Chloe’s grin was one of pure triumph. “The real will leaves the entirety of the estate to you, with a separate trust established for Ethan. Jessica and Mark will walk away with nothing but the public humiliation of having their greed and deceit exposed. Tomorrow,” she said, finishing her wine, “we get to watch them march straight into the trap they thought they were setting for you. It’s your father’s final lesson in the art of consequences.”
