Chapter 5
The video named accounts.
Transfers.
Forged signatures.
Missing jewelry.
Insurance payments after Edward’s death.
Arthur sat frozen beside me.
Every word stripped color from his face.
Edward explained that Gene had pressured him for years to change the will.
When he refused, she blocked his calls, fired his nurse, and moved his medication schedule without permission.
Brandon paused the video.
“Dad?”
Arthur whispered, “I didn’t know.”
But his voice was not defensive.
It was destroyed.
I believed him.
That made the pain worse.
The video continued.
Edward said he had hired an attorney named Melissa Crane.
She had preserved the documents in the vault.
He had also created one final clause.
If Gene attempted to exclude or mistreat any child accepted by Brandon as his own, her access to all family trusts would be terminated.
Brandon stared at the screen.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“You knew about the key, but not that.”
He shook his head.
“Granddad told me to use it only if Mom hurt my family. He didn’t tell me what was inside.”
Arthur stood.
“We need Melissa Crane.”
“She retired,” Brandon said.
A voice from the doorway answered.
“No, I didn’t.”
We turned.
A woman in a gray coat stood there holding a briefcase.
Melissa Crane looked at Holly.
Then at Brandon.
“I received an alert when the vault opened.”
Gene appeared behind her.
Breathless.
Furious.
May you like
And holding Holly’s place card clenched in her fist.
“You ungrateful little brat,” she hissed.
