Chapter 3 - THE RECIPE THIEF
Brooke’s husband, Richard, had always been the quiet shadow in the Carter family.
A mid-level accountant who married into wealth, he usually stood in the corners at family events, sipping scotch and smiling tightly.
“Why would Richard trace your mother’s handwriting?” I asked, clutching the hospital blanket.
“To frame her,” Mason said coldly. “To make sure that if the note was found, it would destroy my relationship with my parents. Not him.”
Mason left Arthur on the line. “Dad, don’t let Mom touch anything else in the study. I’m calling the police.”
“Wait,” Arthur said. The line crackled. “Mason, there’s something you need to know. Richard didn’t just leave. He took the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
Arthur hesitated. The silence stretched so long I could hear the hospital intercom down the hall.
“The trust ledger,” Arthur finally admitted. “Mason, a million dollars has been missing for six months. I hired a private investigator to find it. The PI called me an hour before the party.”
My heart hammered against my ribs.
“Who took it, Dad?” Mason asked.
“Richard,” Arthur said. “But he transferred it into an account under Emily’s name.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?” I gasped.
“He set you up, Emily,” Mason said, his eyes darkening. “He needed you out of the family before the audit next week.”
Just then, my hospital room door opened.
It wasn’t a nurse.
It was Brooke. Her silver dress was stained with my blood and wine. And in her trembling hand, she held a child’s silver locket.
“Brooke, get out,” Mason warned.
“No, wait,” she choked out, dropping the locket onto my bed. “Richard told me to pack our bags. But I found this in his coat pocket.”
I recognized it immediately. It was the locket Lily had lost three weeks ago.
May you like
Inside was a tiny, folded piece of paper.
Brooke looked at me, tears streaming down her face. “Emily… he’s going to Lily’s school on Monday. He wasn’t just trying to hurt you tonight.”
