Chapter 3
The distant relatives crowding the hallway began whispering frantically among themselves, their shocked voices buzzing through the heavy air of the study.
Marcus looked around the room like a cornered animal, his bloodshot eyes darting wildly from the police officers to my bruised face.
My lip throbbed with a dull, sharp pain where his fist had struck me beside Dad’s open casket just two hours ago at the cemetery.
He had hit me because I refused to hand over the brass safe key before the funeral service had even concluded.
He had believed that inside this steel vault lay two million dollars in unrecorded bearer bonds that could cover his massive illegal debts.
“You set me up, Clara!” Marcus roared, suddenly pointing a shaking, rage-filled finger directly at my face.
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“You’ve been whispering in Dad’s ear for six months while he was sick on chemotherapy!”
“You poisoned his mind against me so you could take the entire estate for yourself!”
