Later, Harold and I got back together.

I discovered I was pregnant after that.”

“And Dad knew about it?”

“Yes.”

My throat tightened.

“He raised me.”

“Yes.”

“Then why should any of this change anything?”

Brent gave a bitter laugh.

“Because Grandma knew the truth.”

I turned toward him.

“Grandma Florence?”

Dad’s mother.

Mom nodded.

“She learned about it when you were six.”

“And she disliked Dad because of me?”

“No,” Mom answered.

“She was upset because Harold began treating you differently after he learned the truth for certain.”

I looked toward Dad.

He remained silent.

Grandma hadn’t protected the family property for all three grandchildren simply because she questioned Dad’s financial decisions.

She had been protecting me.

Because she worried that someday Dad might hold something against me that had never been my responsibility.

My eyes filled with tears.

“Is that why Brent always got another chance?”

Dad replied sharply, “I raised you.”

“I know.”

“I provided food.

Bought your clothes.

Made sure you went to school.”

“I know.”

“And now you’re standing there as though I never did anything for you.”

“I covered your mortgage for four years.”

Silence followed.

The words carried more weight than I expected.

Dad’s expression became stern.

“I never wanted things to turn out this way.”

Neither had I.

But before I could respond, Brent interrupted.

“You’re still missing the point.”

I turned toward him.

“The insurance policy wasn’t really about the company.”

Dad spun toward him.

“Brent.”

“What?” he replied.

“She keeps asking for the truth.”

My heart raced.

“Then what was it about?”

Brent looked straight into my eyes.

“Because Daniel Mercer left behind more than you realize.”

Daniel Mercer had owned property near Asheville.

It hadn’t been especially valuable back then.

Several hundred acres passed down from his grandfather.

After he d!ed, the property was placed under a trust.

I was his only child.

I had never known any of it.

Neither had Mom, at least initially.

But Grandma Florence eventually uncovered the information while researching Daniel’s background.

For years, the trust earned relatively modest income through timber leases.

Then, eight years earlier, an energy company leased part of the land.

Another portion was sold.

Development followed.

The trust increased in value.

Substantially.

“How substantially?”

I whispered.

Nobody responded.

Brent gave a humorless smile.

“Think eight figures.”

I stared at him.

“That can’t be true.”

Dad’s jaw tightened.

“Your grandmother learned about it before she passed away.”

My grandmother’s attorney.

Eleanor.

Suddenly, I understood why she had told me she had been waiting for my call.

I stood up.

“You already knew.”

Mom shook her head.

“Not the whole story.”

“How much money?”

Dad stayed silent.

“HOW MUCH?”

Brent finally answered.

“Approximately eleven million.”

Everything around me seemed to blur.

Eleven million dollars.

All those years I had given up vacations. All those evenings spent worrying about overdraft charges. All those conversations when Mom reminded me that the family depended on my financial support.

An inheritance worth more than I could imagine had been waiting under my name.

“Why was I never told?”

Dad gave a bitter laugh.

“Because Florence made the arrangements.”

Grandma.

Once again.

“What arrangements?”

Dad now looked defeated.

“The inheritance couldn’t be distributed directly to you until your thirty-third birthday.”

My birthday was coming in February.

Less than three months away.

“Why did she choose thirty-three?”

“For your protection.”

“Protection from whom?”

Nobody said anything.

They didn’t have to.

From them.

The room suddenly felt smaller.

Then the insurance policy came back into my thoughts.

“No,” I whispered.

Mom started shaking her head before I finished speaking.

“No, Cassidy.

Please, no.”

“If something happened to me before I turned thirty-three, who received the trust?”

Dad turned away.

Brent remained silent.

I looked directly at him.

“Who would receive it?”

Finally, Mom whispered:

“The alternate beneficiaries would inherit.”

“Who were they?”

Her expression crumpled.

“Family members.”

“Which family members?”

Brent lowered his gaze.

I already understood.

“Brent.”

Half.

And probably Wren.

Possibly Mom.

Perhaps Dad through another arrangement.

I felt deeply unsettled.

“You arranged insurance on my life because the family could inherit Daniel’s trust if I never reached my birthday.”

“No!”

Mom cried.

Brent replied sharply, “Nobody was planning to hurt you.”

I turned toward him.

“Then why did you ask Megan whether I was still driving my old, unsafe car?”

His expression changed.

Only slightly.

But I noticed.

Dad stared at him.

“What?”

Brent suddenly looked uncertain.

Mom stopped crying.

“What exactly did you say?”

Dad demanded.

Megan had never mentioned that conversation to them.

I repeated what she had told me.

Brent stepped backward.

“I was only joking.”

“Joking?”

“I was upset when I said it.”

Dad crossed the room and seized Brent’s shirt.

“Were you thinking about doing something?”

“No!”

“Tell me the truth!”

“Let go of me!”

They stumbled into the side table.

Mom screamed.

I moved backward toward the doorway.

And suddenly, I understood something none of us had expected.

Dad had participated in financial fraud.

Mom had helped conceal money.

They had manipulated me.

But even they hadn’t realized how far Brent might be willing to take things.

Police arrived six minutes later.

Marcus had contacted them after I stopped answering his messages.

Brent was taken into custody that evening.

The investigation continued for months.

And it revealed far more than any of us had imagined.

Brent had falsified documents.

Opened accounts without authorization.

Submitted fraudulent loan applications.

Used my identity to purchase the Gastonia house.

And, according to investigators, had searched for information about my daily commute, my vehicle, and accidental-death provisions connected to the insurance policy.

There wasn’t enough evidence to establish that he had developed a specific plan to physically harm me.

But investigators had enough evidence to charge him with multiple offenses involving fraud, identity theft, forgery, and conspiracy.

Dad eventually pleaded guilty to lesser fraud-related charges in exchange for cooperating with the investigation.

Mom received probation for her role in the falsified insurance paperwork.