Chapter 2 - THE RAIN
Evelyn did not confront Daniel about the photograph.
That was the first mistake Daniel expected her to make.
Instead, she called her attorney, Rebecca Sloan, and requested a complete review of her estate.
Forty-eight million dollars in personal assets.
Controlling shares of Mercer Urban Holdings.
Three properties.
Investment accounts.
And a life-insurance trust Daniel apparently knew far too much about.
Rebecca recommended changing the locks on Evelyn's study.
Evelyn went further.
She changed the beneficiaries.
No announcement.
No family meeting.
No warning.
Three days later, a storm rolled over Boston.
Maya was closing her food truck when Evelyn stepped outside the brownstone and immediately began coughing.
Something was wrong.
Her lips were not swelling severely, but her breathing became tight. Her face flushed. She reached into her handbag for the emergency injector she carried because of a dangerous shellfish allergy.
Daniel appeared behind her.
Evelyn looked at him.
She understood instantly.
Dinner.
The sauce Daniel had brought home.
He had insisted it contained no shellfish.
Evelyn pulled out the injector.
Daniel kicked it from her hand.
It skidded across the rain-soaked pavement.
"Evelyn—"
Maya saw what happened from inside her truck.
Daniel kicked the injector again, sending it toward the storm drain.
Then he shoved Evelyn back against the brownstone.
"My real father is coming home," Daniel said.
The sentence hurt more than the shove.
Evelyn sank to one knee.
Daniel crouched.
"You can die now."
Maya exploded from the truck.
She hit Daniel with both hands, driving him sideways into the metal panel, then dropped beside Evelyn.
Maya carried an injector because her younger sister had severe allergies.
She used it without hesitation.
Daniel lunged toward them.
Maya blocked him.
"I saw what you did!"
She pointed at the small security camera mounted above the truck window.
Daniel looked up.
His confidence disappeared.
For three seconds.
Then Evelyn noticed something strange.
Daniel smiled again.
Police sirens sounded several blocks away.
Evelyn forced herself upright and removed the legal envelope she had carried since leaving Rebecca's office.
"You really thought I lost my money?"
Daniel's eyes fixed on the envelope.
Evelyn stepped beside Maya.
"Guess who gets my forty-eight million now?"
Daniel's face tightened.
His gaze moved toward Maya.
But before Evelyn could say another word, Daniel gave a quiet laugh.
"You should check her camera before celebrating."
Maya frowned.
She hurried toward the food truck.
The recording screen was black.
Every file from the previous hour had vanished.
And Daniel whispered something only Evelyn heard.
May you like
"I planned for witnesses."
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