Chapter 4
I got home to find Jake standing in my bedroom, going through my dresser drawers.
The door was wide open.
Lila was in the living room, watching TV like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Jake froze when he saw me in the doorway.
“Hey,” he said, shoving a stack of my underwear back into the drawer, casual as you please.
“Lila said you might need help sorting through Mia’s things. I was looking for her baby book.”
My hand tightened around the doorknob.
The baby book.
The one Lila had mentioned on the recording.
The one with the hidden trust papers.
“Get out,” I said, my voice low.
Jake’s smile faded.
“Come on, honey,” he said, taking a step toward me.
“We’re just trying to help. You’re not thinking straight right now. You need someone to handle the finances, the paperwork—”
“I need you to get out of my house,” I said, louder this time.
Lila appeared in the hallway behind Jake, her face hard.
“What’s your problem?” she snapped.
“We’re doing this for you! You can barely get out of bed, let alone deal with the trust your husband left Mia. If you don’t let us help, the state will take it all.”
There it was.
The truth slipping out.
They didn’t care about me.
They cared about the money.
My husband had left a $2 million trust for Mia when he died in that car crash last year.
I was the trustee.
The money was supposed to pay for her college, her wedding, her whole life.
But if Mia died…
I’d never read the fine print.
I’d been too grief-stricken after my husband died to look.
Lila had.
“Get out,” I said again, reaching for the phone on my nightstand.
“Or I’m calling the police and telling them you’re trespassing.”
Jake’s face twisted with anger.
He took another step toward me, so close I could smell his beer breath.
“You think you’re so smart,” he said, quiet enough Lila couldn’t hear.
“But you have no idea what we’re capable of. One wrong move, and you’ll end up right next to your brat of a daughter.”
My blood ran cold.
But I didn’t flinch.
I pressed 911 on my phone, holding the screen up so he could see.
“Get out,” I said.
He stared at me for a long, tense second.
Then he turned, grabbed Lila’s arm, and dragged her out the front door.
The lock clicked behind them.
I slid down the wall, sobbing, my hand still clamped around the phone.
They’d threatened me.
May you like
They knew I was onto them.
And now I had to fight back before they hurt me too.
