She spoke as if deceiving me into selling my inheritance was simply another responsibility I was expected to fulfill.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Hand over the transfer papers.”
I placed the envelope on the table.
The instant he saw it, his eyes brightened.
That look told me everything.
He was not relieved to be alive.
He was excited to receive the money.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone.
“You should hear something first.”
I tapped the screen.
Elaine’s voice filled the room, clear, unmistakable, and pleased with itself.
“Once she sells the house, Daniel can stop pretending. She’s sentimental, not intelligent.”
The confidence disappeared from Vanessa’s face.
Her skin turned pale.
Daniel lunged toward me and reached for the phone, but I stepped back before he could take it.
“That’s only the first recording,” I said.
For the first time since I had entered the room, uncertainty flickered across his face.
None of them knew what I had spent the past twelve years doing.
I investigated insurance fraud for the state attorney general’s office.
