PART 2

Before I could read the stamped registration number under the witness signature, heavy footsteps pounded up my front porch.

The front door flew open without a knock.

Marcus stood in my entryway, his face flushed crimson and his breath coming in shallow gasps. When he saw the manila folder open on my table and the brass loupe in my hand, all the color drained from his cheeks.

“Hannah, get in the car right now,” Marcus barked, stepping into the kitchen.

Hannah shrank back against the counter, shaking her head. “I couldn’t keep looking at her working sixty hours a week while we remodel our lake house, Marcus. It’s eating me alive.”

“Shut up!” he snapped, lunging across the table to snatch the cream ledger sheet.

I moved faster, sliding the paper off the table and locking it behind my back.

“Give me that sheet, Elena,” Marcus said, lowering his voice into a cold, patronizing tone he always used when he thought I was being emotional. “You don’t understand corporate restructuring. If you take that out of context, you’re going to ruin this family over a clerical error.”

“A clerical error?” I repeated, keeping my voice steady. “You told me David died broke. You watched me sell my wedding ring to pay the property taxes on this house.”

“I protected David’s reputation!” Marcus shouted, slamming his palm onto the oak table. “You think you know who your husband was? Go ahead, look at Line 14 under the ultraviolet lamp on your desk. See who actually authorized that transfer and who was sitting in that boatyard office with him!”

I walked backward to my work desk, flicked on the UV inspection lamp, and held the ledger sheet underneath the purple glow.

Right beneath the surface ink of David’s name, a second layer of security micro-printing lit up, revealing a stamped notary seal and a handwritten sentence that made my knees buckle—