Chapter 3 - The EnvelopeThe funeral passed in fragments. People kept telling me Graham had spoken about me often. That made me angrier than silence ever could have.

Afterward, I packed immediately. I was closing my suitcase when Foster appeared in the doorway.

"Renee."

"I'm leaving."

"I know." He stepped in, carrying a thick envelope.

I looked at it. "No. I don't want—"

"You don't know what this is," he cut in. His expression sharpened. "Did Graham ask you to stay for his final week?"

I frowned. "Yes."

"And you stayed willingly?"

"Why does that matter?"

He set the envelope on the table and looked straight at me. "Renee... you walked straight into your father's trap."

My hand froze above the envelope. "What trap?"

He slid it toward me. "He left very specific instructions."

I didn't touch it.

"And he knew exactly what you'd do once you got here."

My voice dropped. "What? I don't understand."

Foster rested one hand on the envelope. "He made sure you couldn't reject what he'd set in motion without seeing it first."

I finally opened it.

The first page wasn't a check. It wasn't a deed. It wasn't even addressed to me.

It was a board resolution.

I looked up. "What is this?"

"The moment you completed the seventh day here willingly, the transfer became irrevocable. Most of Graham's estate now belongs to the foundation."

"Because I stayed?"

"Because you stayed."

"And Vivian?"

"Vivian is provided for."

I kept reading. A charitable foundation. A residential transition program. Scholarships. Employment support. Housing assistance.

I stopped. "What does any of this have to do with me?"

Foster pointed to a paragraph. "Graham left one board seat vacant."

"No."

"You haven't heard the rest."

"I don't need to." I shoved the papers back at him. "He doesn't get to abandon me and then assign me homework from the grave."

"He knew you'd say that."

That made me angrier. "Then find somebody else."

"They can."

I blinked.

"He never made acceptance mandatory," Foster said.

"Then where's the trap?"

He glanced toward the window. "He required one thing before anyone else could permanently take the seat."

"What?"

"That you see the program first."

I laughed without any humor in it. "So he thought he'd line up a bunch of sad foster kids and guilt me into staying?"

Foster said nothing. Then Vivian appeared in the doorway.

"Then leave," she said.

I turned to her. She looked exhausted.

"Walk out. Go home. Hate him forever if that's what you need." Her eyes narrowed. "But don't spend the rest of your life knowing nothing about what was actually behind this house."

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She walked away.

I hated that it worked.