“I followed Mom because I thought she was hiding something about Dad’s estate.”
Dad.
My father had died two years earlier from what everyone believed was a sudden heart attack.
“But it wasn’t just about money,” Claire whispered.
My pulse thundered.
“I saw Ryan with her. I thought maybe it was an affair at first…”
A long silence.
Then Claire said the sentence that destroyed the last stable piece of my world:
“But Ryan isn’t sleeping with Mom because he loves her.”
I froze.
“He’s helping her.”
Helping her?
The recording crackled again.
“I found documents in Mom’s office. Insurance changes. Property transfers. Dad updated his will three weeks before he died…”
My knees weakened.
“And after the wedding,” Claire whispered,
“you become the secondary beneficiary to everything.”
Cold flooded my chest.
No.
No no no.
Then Claire’s breathing became uneven.
“As long as you stay married to Ryan, he gains access through you. Mom knows that.”
I stared blankly ahead.
This wasn’t an affair.
It was something worse.
Something planned.
Something financial.
Something deadly.
Claire’s voice dropped lower.
“Alice… I think Dad found out what they were doing before he died.”
I felt the room spin.
Megan grabbed my arm to steady me.
Then came the final words on the recording:
“And if anything happens to me… don’t believe it was an accident.”
The audio cut off.
Complete silence.
I realized I was crying only when tears hit the papers in my lap.
My sister knew.
She knew before the wedding.
She tried to save me.
And now she was gone.
—
Suddenly my phone rang.
Ryan.
My entire body locked up.
Megan whispered urgently:
“Don’t tell him you know.”
The phone kept vibrating in my hand.
Ryan calling.
Ryan calling.
Ryan calling.
Leave a Comment