Claire stepped back.
“That’s impossible,” she said too quickly. “She would never—”
She stopped.
Too late.
“Never what, Claire?” Ms. Parker asked.
Ethan squeezed my hand tightly.
“Heard enough, didn’t he?” Claire muttered.
“That document is invalid,” Ryan cut in. “Emily wasn’t in her right mind. My sister-in-law can confirm that.”
“Emily was perfectly lucid,” Ms. Parker said. “She placed everything in a trust for Ethan. And she left instructions—if anything happened to her, neither of you was to go near him.”
That’s when it clicked.
They didn’t just want the house.
They wanted Ethan.
To control him.
To make him disappear.
Something fell to the floor—a bag, maybe.
“This is getting out of hand,” Claire snapped.
Control.
That had always been her word.
She controlled family dinners, finances, secrets—everything.
She stepped closer again.
“Maybe we should’ve made sure she never woke up.”
The air drained from my lungs.
A metallic sound followed.
Claire had taken something out.
“Enough of this,” she said softly.
“Claire, put that down,” Ms. Parker warned.
Ethan spoke before anyone else.
“Aunt Claire…”
His voice wasn’t shaking anymore.
“You said that the night of the crash too.”
The silence shattered.
“What did you say?” Ryan demanded.
“I heard you in the kitchen,” Ethan said. “You said Mom would never sign. And Aunt Claire said one curve could fix what a judge would complicate.”
Claire cursed under her breath.
