Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Knew Too MuchMarissa called again at 11:48 that night.
I answered.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to listen.”
“I've been listening for thirty years.”
“This is serious.”
“So was forging my signature.”
“I didn't forge it.”
“You signed it.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
She paused.
“Dad.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Marissa.”
“I swear.”
“You knew about the contractors.”
“Yes.”
“You knew they were entering my house.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the basement.”
Silence.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“I knew Dad wanted access.”
“To what?”
“I don't know.”
“Don't lie.”
Her voice cracked.
“He said there was something Grandpa left behind.”
I felt a cold sensation along my spine.
“What?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“Then why did you help him?”
“Because I trusted him.”
The irony was almost unbearable.
“You threatened me.”
“I was angry.”
“You threw sauce in my face.”
“I know.”
“And now you're asking me to trust you?”
“I don't expect you to.”
That surprised me.
Marissa continued.
“But you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“The wedding isn't really the wedding.”
I sat down.
“Then what is it?”
“I don't know all of it.”
“What do you know?”
She lowered her voice.
“Ethan's father has been trying to buy properties quietly.”
I already knew.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Everything.”
She breathed shakily.
“Dad owes Thomas a lot of money.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
“Give me a number.”
“More than he can pay.”
I stood.
“And my house?”
“He says it's worth enough to fix everything.”
I stared at the ceiling.
“So this was never about the venue.”
“No.”
“What was the plan?”
“I think they wanted to use the wedding to get inside the house.”
“They're already inside my paperwork.”
“Not just paperwork.”
My hand froze on the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“Guests.”
“What?”
“People from Thomas's company.”
“Why?”
“He called them investors.”
I thought of the two hundred guests.
My family's friends.
Business associates.
Photographers.
People moving through my house all weekend.
“What's the point?”
“I don't know.”
Then Marissa said,
“There are going to be appraisers.”
My blood went cold.
“Appraisers?”
“Yes.”
“For the property.”
I looked toward the basement.
“They're planning to value my house during the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Another pause.
“Because they're trying to use it as collateral.”
“For whose debt?”
“Dad's.”
I could barely breathe.
“My father is planning to use my property to secure his debt?”
“He says you'll agree.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Why would he think that?”
“Because you always do.”
That sentence hurt more than the rest.
Marissa continued.
“He told everyone you've always been the one who cleans up the family's problems.”
I remembered the cars.
The credit cards.
The loans.
The tuition.
The emergencies.
Every time, I paid.
Because family.
And somehow, every payment had taught them that I would keep paying.
“What happens if I refuse?”
“He says you'll be pressured.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Then she went silent.
“What?”
“I found something.”
“Marissa.”
“I found a folder in Dad's office.”
“What was inside?”
“Copies of your property documents.”
My stomach twisted.
“Anything else?”
“A draft power of attorney.”
I stood completely still.
“Signed?”
“No.”
“Whose name?”
“Yours.”
My voice dropped.
“They planned to forge that too.”
“I think so.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
She hesitated.
“Because I saw what Dad said to Thomas.”
“What did he say?”
“Once you sign the transfer…”
She stopped.
“What transfer?”
“I don't know.”
“Marissa.”
“I heard one sentence.”
“What sentence?”
Her voice shook.
“He said, ‘Once the house is under the trust, Claire won't be able to take it back.’”
My skin prickled.
“The trust?”
“Yes.”
“Whose trust?”
She didn't answer.
“Marissa.”
She whispered,
“Thomas's.”
The line went dead.
I looked at Vivian.
She had been listening.
“I think,” she said quietly, “we've just found the real reason your house matters.”
“What?”
Vivian opened her laptop.
She pulled up an old corporate filing.
A trust bearing Thomas Cole's name.
There was a list of assets.
Most were construction properties.
One line had been recently amended.
Pending secured asset: Bennett Estate.
My house.
I stared at it.
“What do we do?”
Vivian closed the laptop.
“We stop them.”
“How?”
“Legally first.”
“And after that?”
She looked at the security monitors.
“Then we make sure they never get a second chance.”
At 5:00 A.M., Daniel called from the gate.
Someone was standing outside.
A man in a black suit.
No vehicle.
No identification.
He held an envelope.
When Daniel approached, the man smiled.
“This is for Claire Bennett.”
“What is it?”
“Her final notice.”
Daniel called me.
I told him not to open the gate.
The man smiled toward the camera.
Then placed the envelope on the ground.
May you like
Before he walked away, he looked straight into the lens and said,
“Tell Claire the house will be ours by Saturday.”
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