Chapter 5 - The Envelope"Why would you think I planned to leave everything to Amara?" Grandpa asked, his voice dangerously calm.

Mom said nothing. Then Grandpa opened the bottom desk drawer and pulled out a thick envelope — the one he'd apparently planned to show us before dinner fell apart.

"I was going to discuss this tonight," he said, setting it down.

Mom's breathing changed. "Wallace," she whispered.

"You know what this is, don't you?"

That question frightened me more than anything else in the room. Mom stepped back. Brynn wiped her tears.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Grandpa slid the envelope toward me. "Open it."

Inside was a legal document. I read the first page, then the second. My name appeared again and again. Amara Grace Prescott. Trust beneficiary. Property. Shares. Accounts.

"I don't understand," I said.

Grandpa lowered himself into his chair. "Your grandmother created a trust before she died. She wanted certain property protected until you turned twenty-five."

"Why me?"

He glanced at Grandma's photograph on the bookshelf. "Because she believed you would protect the family history instead of selling it."

Brynn gave a bitter laugh. "There. See? Amara gets everything."

"No," Grandpa said, snapping his gaze toward her. "You received your share years ago."

Brynn froze. So did I. "What share?"

Grandpa turned to Mom. "Tell them."

Her lips tightened. "Wallace—"

"Tell them."

She sank into a chair. For the first time in my life, my mother looked small.

"When your grandmother died," she began, "she left money for both of you."

"How much?" I asked.

Mom stayed silent. Grandpa answered. "Two hundred thousand dollars each."

The room seemed to tilt. Brynn whispered, "What?"

I almost laughed. "Where is it?"

Mom started crying — not delicately, not strategically. Real tears. "I was trying to keep us afloat."

My stomach went cold. "What did you do?"

"The money came with restrictions. Education. Housing. Investments. I was trustee until you reached a certain age."

Grandpa stared at her in disgust. "And she violated those restrictions."

"I intended to replace it," Mom said.

"How much did you spend?"

May you like

Days After My Major Spinal Surgery, My Mother Whispered an Apology — The...

Chapter 1 - The Call That Broke Something in MeThe heart monitor beside my bed kept its steady, indifferent beep, and somehow that...

My Husband Disliked That Our Neighbor Walked Our Daughter Home From Scho...

Chapter 1 - The Neighbor Everyone Else Was Afraid OfI'd known Deacon Cole so long I sometimes forgot other people found him fright...

She Called Her Mother a Leech Over $100 — Then a $260 Million Secret Nea...

Chapter 1 - The Hundred-Dollar InsultDanielle Whitmore read the number on the transaction slip three times before her brain would...

He already knew. He wanted her to say it herself.

"Most of it," Mom whispered.