They had needed to adjust their plan.
I took out my phone and played the recording from my kitchen.
Garrett’s voice filled the office.
Margaret left everything to Eliza.
Once I get access to those accounts, we’re set.
Then came the faint laugh from outside.
Harrison looked down.
He recognized it too.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
I looked at my mother’s frozen face on the tablet.
“Exactly what she told me to do,” I said.
“Stay quiet.”
For the next four hours, we secured everything.
Passwords were changed.
The estate’s access codes were replaced.
Copies of the recording and documents were stored in several protected locations.
Garrett’s ability to enter business offices was revoked, though the changes would not become obvious until he tried.
Then I drove home.
Garrett was waiting in the kitchen wearing the concerned expression that had once made me feel safe.
“There you are,” he said.
“I called twice.”
“My phone was off.”
He studied my face.
“How did it go with Harrison?”
“Paperwork.
Trust details.
Tax planning.”
He moved closer and placed his hands on my shoulders.
“You shouldn’t have to deal with any of this right now.
Let me take some of it off you.”
His voice was soft enough to be mistaken for love.
I stepped out of his reach and opened the refrigerator.
“Sienna’s coming for dinner,” he said.
I kept my back to him.
“Is she?”
“She called while you were out.
She feels terrible about the way she behaved.”
“I’m sure she does.”
At seven, Sienna arrived carrying a bottle from our mother’s private reserve.
She wore the silver bracelet.
When she hugged me, her body was rigid.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
She released me too quickly.
“For the lawyer’s office.
I was angry.”
Garrett took the wine from her and touched her fingers for half a second too long.
I saw it because I was finally looking.
We sat at the long dining table beneath the pendant lights my mother had chosen.
Garrett poured wine.
Sienna drank hers quickly.
For ten minutes, they performed concern.
Garrett asked whether I had slept.
Sienna said she did not care about the money.
Garrett said the vineyard needed stability.
Sienna agreed that I should not carry the burden alone.
