Chapter 4 - The TrustMy Brother Had Chosen a Stranger
The room came alive with emergency lighting.
Red.
Low.
Pulsing.
My eyes stayed on Vince.
“Say that again.”
He lowered his gun.
“Thomas changed his final trust.”
“To her?”
“Yes.”
Mara looked genuinely shocked.
“No.”
“You knew?”
She shook her head.
“I swear.”
“How did you know nothing about this?”
“I didn't.”
Vince moved toward a terminal.
“There was a sealed document.”
“Where?”
“The family attorney received it two days after Thomas died.”
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because Thomas instructed him not to tell you until the fifteenth month.”
I checked the date.
Fourteen months and nine days.
Nine days before the deadline.
My mouth went dry.
“What happens on the fifteenth month?”
Vince looked at Mara.
“The trust activates.”
She whispered, “And then?”
“You inherit Hollow Pine.”
Silence.
I stared at her.
A woman who had supposedly wandered into my hot spring by mistake.
A nursing student.
A stranger.
The future owner of my family's empire.
It was absurd.
So absurd I almost laughed.
Almost.
“Why you?”
Mara shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You must.”
“I don't.”
“Thomas knew you.”
“He met me once.”
“When?”
“Fourteen months before today.”
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
“It isn't.”
She reached into her bag.
A photograph.
Thomas standing beside an elderly man.
Mara was in the background.
I recognized the place.
A medical rehabilitation center.
Thomas had visited it once.
Secretly.
Mara had been there as a student.
I flipped the photograph.
A handwritten note covered the back.
She saved his life before I asked her to save mine.
My hand tightened around it.
“Whose life?”
Mara looked at the picture.
“Daniel's.”
She sat down.
“Daniel had been arrested for something he didn't do. Thomas found out. He paid his legal fees.”
“What did Daniel know?”
“Everything.”
Vince interrupted.
“Not everything.”
We looked at him.
He stared at the floor.
“Daniel knew about the Hollow Pine ledger.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
“What ledger?”
Vince didn't answer.
Mara did.
“The one that records every person your family has paid.”
I looked at her.
“You think my family is corrupt?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“I think someone inside your family is.”
That distinction mattered.
Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“I found this in Daniel's apartment.”
I unfolded it.
A list of names.
Executives.
Judges.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Hotel owners.
At the bottom was a name circled twice.
VINCENT DAWSON.
I looked up.
Vince's face had gone white.
“Explain.”
He took one step backward.
“I can.”
“Now.”
Before he could speak, a gunshot exploded behind the wall.
A bullet ripped through the monitor.
Vince tackled me.
Mara screamed.
We hit the floor.
Another shot.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Running away.
Vince rose.
“Stay here.”
I grabbed his jacket.
“Not this time.”
He looked at me.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
I held up the paper.
“Your name is on the list.”
His eyes met mine.
Then he whispered:
“I put it there.”
Mara stared.
“Why?”
May you like
Vince looked at the shattered monitor.
“Because Thomas told me to.”
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