PART 4
Vanessa began crying harder.
“Dad, we were scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“That you were going to leave everything to Natalie.”
Dad looked at me.
I didn’t say anything.
He looked back at the phone.
“And that frightened you enough to kill me before breakfast?”
“Dad!”
“That’s what you did.”
His voice suddenly became colder.
“You didn’t just lie about my death. You planned around it.”
Grant tried to interrupt.
“We didn’t know you were—”
“Alive?”
Dad raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. That part is becoming obvious.”
I almost smiled.
Dad had always been sarcastic when he was angry.
When I was a child, I’d once broken a lamp playing indoor baseball.
He’d stared at the broken lamp for ten seconds before saying, “Well, at least we know the lamp lost.”
This was the same voice.
Only this time, there was no humor behind it.
Vanessa whispered, “Who told you?”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“Told me what?”
“That we were coming.”
Dad glanced at me.
Then toward the hallway.
Then back at the phone.
“No one.”
Vanessa was silent.
Dad continued.
“You two made one enormous mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“You assumed I was helpless.”
I saw something in his face I’d never seen before.
Not anger.
Not disappointment.
Something deeper.
Regret.
Not for himself.
For his children.
Dad had spent his entire life believing family could survive almost anything.
Apparently, he’d finally learned there was something it couldn’t survive.
Greed without shame.
Vanessa said, “Dad, if you’re really alive, then we need to talk in person.”
“No.”
“Dad—”
“You need to leave my house.”
“But—”
“Immediately.”
Grant shouted, “You can’t kick us out!”
Dad smiled.
“I can.”
“You said the house would go to us!”
“I said nothing of the kind.”
“But the papers—”
“What papers?”
Grant stopped.
Dad leaned forward.
“The ones you found?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
His eyes met mine.
“Because those aren’t the documents I changed yesterday.”
Vanessa’s voice trembled.
“What did you change?”
Dad didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked at me.
“Natalie.”
“Yes?”
“Get dressed.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“We’re going to Harold’s.”
I knew immediately that this wasn’t a casual visit.
Harold wasn’t just Dad’s oldest friend.
He was also the man Dad trusted with every legal document he didn’t want sitting around the house.
I grabbed my coat.
Dad stood.
Before leaving, he picked up his phone.
“One more thing.”
Vanessa sounded desperate now.
“Dad?”
“I want you and Grant to stay exactly where you are.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Dad’s voice became firm.
“Don’t touch anything else.”
He paused.
“And don’t leave.”
Grant laughed nervously.
“You can’t order us around.”
Dad replied calmly.
“I don’t have to.”
Then he ended the call.
