Chapter 4 - The Frozen AccountsBen had gone from arrogant to terrified in less than ten minutes.
I opened the door.
He stepped inside.
“Where's your mother?”
“Right here.”
Ben looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Not recognition.
Guilt.
“What's happening?” Mom asked.
Ben laughed bitterly.
“I don't know.”
He sat on the edge of the couch.
“My accounts are frozen.”
“How?”
“My bank called.”
“Why?”
“Fraud investigation.”
Christopher spoke through the phone speaker.
“Ben, don't touch anything.”
Ben looked at the phone.
“You're Delgado?”
“Yes.”
“You knew about this?”
“I know what Evelyn put in place.”
Ben looked at me.
“What did she do?”
I said nothing.
He shook his head.
“You know, don't you?”
“No.”
“You've always been Grandma's favorite.”
“Not anymore.”
He stared at me.
“She told me you were going to be weak.”
That surprised me.
“What?”
“She said you'd avoid conflict.”
“Why would she say that?”
“She wanted to test you.”
“Test me for what?”
Ben laughed.
“Control.”
I looked at Christopher.
He didn't react.
Ben pulled out his phone.
“I found something.”
He opened an email.
There was a scanned document.
A letter from Grandma.
I read it.
Ben,
If you are reading this, then you have claimed the house.
That means you have chosen money over family.
Your punishment is not the loss of the property.
Your punishment is discovering what you were never entitled to.
Beneath it was another line.
Ask Ryan about the vault.
Ben stared at me.
“What vault?”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie.”
“I'm not.”
Christopher interrupted.
“Ben, this conversation is over.”
Ben ignored him.
“What does Ryan know?”
“Nothing.”
Ben stood.
“Then I'm taking you to the bank.”
Mom stepped between us.
“No.”
Ben stared at her.
“You should be more careful, Aunt Linda.”
“Why?”
“Because someone has already opened an investigation into Grandma's death.”
Silence.
I felt the room tilt.
“What investigation?”
“I don't know.”
Ben looked at Mom.
“But the investigator requested her medical records.”
Mom's face went white.
“She died of Alzheimer's.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Ben lowered his voice.
“Because the coroner's office received an anonymous tip.”
“About what?”
“That she may not have died naturally.”
My mother almost fell.
I caught her.
“Ben, what are you talking about?”
He shook his head.
“I didn't send the tip.”
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
Christopher said:
“Ben, leave.”
Ben didn't move.
Instead, he pulled a small envelope from his pocket.
He handed it to me.
“Grandma gave this to me the night before she died.”
I stared at it.
“Why?”
“She told me never to open it unless I took ownership of the house.”
My skin prickled.
“You opened it?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
Ben looked at me.
“It said, ‘Ryan will come for you.’”
I frowned.
“That's it?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“It also gave me a name.”
“Whose name?”
He looked at my mother.
“Your father's.”
My stomach tightened.
“My father?”
My father had died when I was twelve.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Ben whispered:
“Everything.”
Then my mother's phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She listened.
Then dropped the phone.
“What happened?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“The police are outside Grandma's house.”
“Why?”
May you like
Her voice trembled.
“They found blood in the basement.”
