Chapter 13: The Real Plan

My father closed the door.

“You were always the weak one,” he told me.

My mother laughed softly.

“Even now, she thinks this is about money.”

“What is it about?” I asked.

My father placed Marcus’s gun on the table but kept his hand over it.

“Survival.”

The trust contained more than money.

My grandfather had hidden records of judges, police officers, doctors, and businessmen he bribed.

The documents could destroy dozens of powerful people.

Evelyn had spent years collecting them.

My parents wanted control of the archive.

Lily’s genetic verification would trigger release of the records to the trust’s legitimate heir.

Grace.

Since Grace was alive, the trust no longer belonged to Vanessa.

It belonged to Sarah.

My parents had only recently discovered that.

“Then why target Lily?” I asked.

“Because Evelyn named her as Sarah’s successor,” my father said.

If Sarah died or was declared incompetent, Lily would inherit everything.

The money.

The evidence.

The power to expose them.

My mother pressed the syringe harder against Lily’s skin.

“We tried to make her disappear quietly.”

Lily whimpered.

“Let her go.”

My father smiled.

“You first.”

He wanted me to sign a confession claiming I had drugged Lily and placed her in the dumpster during a mental breakdown.

In exchange, he promised to release her.

A document waited on the table.

I picked up the pen.

Through the microphone, Ruiz could hear everything.

But the officers could not enter while the syringe remained at Lily’s neck.

I signed the first page.

My mother relaxed slightly.

That was all Lily needed.

She bit my mother’s hand.

The syringe fell.

I lunged across the table.

My father grabbed the gun.

A shot exploded.

The window shattered behind me.

Then Marcus crashed through the side door and tackled my father.

My mother seized Lily and ran toward the dock.

I chased her.

The boards shook beneath our feet.

At the end of the dock, she held Lily over the black water.

“Stay back!”

Lily kicked and screamed.

My mother looked at me.

For the first time, her perfect expression cracked.

“You ruined everything the day you were born.”

Then Sarah stepped from the trees.

“No,” she said.

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