Chapter 3: The Will Nobody Told Me About
I didn’t sleep that night.
I sat on the floor of my bedroom, surrounded by old photographs and graduation cards, trying to understand how my entire life could have been built on missing pieces.
My grandmother’s face stared back at me from a framed picture on my desk.
She was smiling.
Holding my hand.
Promising me everything would be okay.
But now I had one question.
Why had nobody told me about the will?
The next morning, my father knocked on my door.
“Can I come in?””
I almost said no.
But I opened it.
He looked exhausted.
Not like the confident businessman everyone knew.
Like a man who had just discovered he had spent years believing a lie.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Two words.
But they carried years of pain.
I sat on the edge of my bed.
“What happened, Dad?””
He looked down.
“When your grandmother died, Vanessa handled most of the paperwork.””
My heart sank.
“You let her?””
“I was grieving.””
His voice cracked.
“I lost your grandmother too. She was like family to me.””
I looked away.
“And I was a child.””
He nodded.
“I know.””
The silence between us felt different now.
Not angry.
Just heavy.
“There was supposed to be a meeting with the attorney,” he continued.
“What attorney?””
“Your grandmother’s estate attorney.””
I stared at him.
“I never met him.””
My father closed his eyes.
“Because Vanessa told me your grandmother changed her mind.””
My chest tightened.
“Changed her mind about what?””
He looked at me.
“The inheritance.””
I felt dizzy.
“She changed her will?””
“That’s what Vanessa said.””
“And you believed her?””
His expression broke.
“Yes.””
The honesty hurt.
But at least it was the truth.
I stood and walked to my window.
“So all these years…”
My voice shook.
“All these years, I thought Grandma only left me the education fund.””
My father nodded.
“There was supposed to be more.””
“How much?””
He hesitated.
“$120,000.””
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone knew except me.””
“No.””
My father stepped closer.
“I didn’t know.””
I turned around.
“But Vanessa did.””
He couldn’t deny it.
Later that morning, Dylan came over with Olivia.
None of us wanted to say it out loud, but we all knew something bigger was happening.
Dylan placed a folder on the table.
“I found something.””
My father opened it.
Inside were copies of bank records.
“Where did you get these?””
Dylan looked uncomfortable.
“I asked an old friend who works in finance to help me trace the account numbers.””
Olivia pointed to one page.
“Look at the dates.””
My father scanned them.
“These withdrawals…”
“They match the months after Grandma died,” Dylan said.
I leaned closer.
The numbers blurred.
“She took it?””
Dylan shook his head.
“Not exactly.””
“What does that mean?””
He pointed at another line.
“She transferred it into an account under someone else’s name.””
My father frowned.
“Whose?””
Dylan hesitated.
Then he turned the page.
My eyes landed on the name.
Marcus Hale.
The same person who had texted Vanessa.
My father went silent.
“Who is Marcus?”” Olivia asked.
Nobody answered.
Then my father whispered:
“Vanessa’s first husband.””
The room froze.
“First husband?”” I asked.
My father nodded slowly.
“She told me he disappeared years ago.””
Dylan looked at the records.
“He didn’t disappear.””
He pointed to the transfer history.
“He’s been receiving money.””
A terrible thought entered my mind.
“Dad…”
He looked at me.
“What?””
“Why would Vanessa need my signature?””
Nobody spoke.
Then Olivia picked up the phone she had taken screenshots from the night before.
“I found something else.””
She opened an image.
It was a document.
A loan agreement.
My name was printed at the bottom.
My hands started shaking.
“I never signed this.””
Dylan stared at the paper.
“She was planning to use your inheritance as collateral.””
My father grabbed the phone.
His face turned pale.
Then my phone buzzed.
A new message.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
There was only one sentence.
*“If you want to know what your grandmother really left you, come alone. Your father has been lying to you too.””*
Below it was a photo.
A photo of my grandmother.
Standing beside a man I had never seen before.
May you like
And written on the back of the photo was one name.
*Marcus Hale.*
