“I can’t do that.” Her smile was sympathetic and rehearsed. “But I can offer you a deal. Fifty-fifty split. You get half the mansion’s value. I get the other half. Everyone walks away happy.”
“The will was clear.”
“The will was written by a confused old woman.”
“Grandma wasn’t confused.”
Karen’s mask slipped for just a second. Something ugly flickered behind her eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know she was tested regularly. Her mind was sharp until the end.”
“Tests can be faked. Doctors can be paid.”
Karen leaned forward. “Do you really want to drag this through court? Do you know what I’ll do to your reputation?”
“You’ve already tried.”
“Tried?” She laughed softly. “Honey, I haven’t even started.”
Richard cleared his throat. “Listen, this doesn’t have to get worse. Just take the deal. Save yourself the trouble.”
I looked at him, at his sweaty forehead and darting eyes. He was scared, but of what?
I stood up. “I’ll see you in court.”
Karen’s voice followed me as I walked away, sharp and cold. “You don’t know what I’m capable of, Mila.”
I paused at the door and turned back. “Neither do you.”
I left her sitting there, her perfect composure cracking just slightly around the edges, but her threat echoed in my mind all the way home.
By month eight, the lawsuit still dragged on. My savings dwindled. The isolation deepened. Harold’s words haunted me.
Look in the library. Third bookshelf.
I had avoided it for months. Part of me was afraid of what I would find. Part of me was not sure I was ready.
That night, I finally climbed the stairs to the second-floor library.
The room smelled like Grandma: lavender and old paper. Moonlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating rows upon rows of leather-bound books.
I walked to the third bookshelf and ran my fingers along the spines. History. Philosophy. Poetry.
Then I saw it.
First Principles, a worn volume with gold lettering tucked between Marcus Aurelius and Seneca.
I pulled it from the shelf.
Click.
A mechanical sound, soft but distinct.
The entire bookshelf shuddered, then slowly, impossibly, swung inward.
Behind it was a door. Oak. Old. Covered in forty years of dust.
My heart pounded.
Grandma’s words at the hospital came back to me. William’s room. If you ever need answers…
This was it. Grandfather William’s hidden study, the room that did not officially exist.
I pushed the door open.
The space was small, maybe ten feet square, but it was packed with history. An antique desk. A cracked leather chair. Filing cabinets along one wall. And on the desk, positioned as if it had been waiting for me, a metal box with a sticky note attached.
The handwriting was shaky but unmistakable.
For Mila. When the time comes.
My hands trembled as I opened the box.
Inside was a USB drive, a small digital camera, and a handwritten letter sealed in an envelope. I picked up the letter. My name was written on the front in Grandma’s careful script.
Whatever was in that room, she had left it specifically for me.
For the first time in months, maybe for the first time since she died, I did not feel entirely alone.
Part 3
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