Chapter 1 - THE PAPER THAT KILLED HER
Adam slammed Leah’s hand onto the hood of the Mercedes and forced the pen between her fingers.
“Sign the house over.”
Leah jerked back.
At eight months pregnant, she had been exhausted for weeks, but there was nothing weak about the terror in her face.
Kelsey stood beside Adam in a burgundy blazer, holding the transfer packet flat against the car.
“You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” she said.
The garage door flew open from the house.
Margaret Whitmore stepped inside.
She saw her son gripping Leah’s wrist.
She saw the papers.
She saw Kelsey.
And something inside her expression changed.
Margaret crossed the garage and knocked the packet off the hood.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Adam released Leah immediately.
“This isn’t your business anymore.”
Margaret stared at him.
“This is my house.”
Kelsey actually laughed.
“Not for much longer.”
That stopped Margaret.
Leah bent quickly, picked up a deep-burgundy legal folder from beneath the car, and pressed it into Margaret’s hands.
“Mom.”
Adam moved toward them.
“Leah.”
She ignored him.
“Read the last page.”
Adam lunged.
“Give me that.”
Margaret stepped backward and opened the folder.
The first pages were copies of trust documents.
The next was a proposed grant deed.
Then she reached an affidavit.
Her eyes stopped.
AFFIDAVIT OF DEATH OF TRUSTEE.
Margaret read her own name.
Margaret Elaine Whitmore.
Date of death: November 18.
Today.
Her throat tightened.
“Why does this say I’m dead?”
Nobody answered.
Leah whispered, “They needed you gone before midnight.”
Margaret looked at her son.
Adam’s face had lost its color.
She turned one more page.
There were two signatures.
One belonged to Adam.
The other—
Margaret knew every curve of it.
The long M.
The sharp upward stroke in Whitmore.
Her hand began to shake.
Adam took one cautious step toward her.
“Mom… don’t.”
May you like
Margaret lifted her eyes.
Because the second signature declaring Margaret Whitmore dead belonged to Margaret Whitmore herself.
