Chapter 1 - THE NUMBER SHE SHOULD NOT KNOW
Laura Collier swung the wooden cane into Iris’s left upper arm.
Pain shot through the bruises already there.
Iris cried out.
Before she could move, the cane struck her right shoulder.
She stumbled backward into the birthday table.
Blue-and-white balloons trembled above the cake.
Guests froze.
“GIVE ME THE MONEY!”
Iris raised both arms.
“What money?”
Laura charged again.
The cane hit Iris’s outer thigh.
Her leg buckled.
Then another strike landed across her upper back.
“I DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY!”
Laura stopped.
Breathing hard.
Then she jabbed the cane toward Iris’s chest.
“YOUR FIVE-MILLION-DOLLAR INHERITANCE!”
Iris went still.
The pain remained.
But fear disappeared beneath confusion.
Five million.
Richard, her father, looked at Wade.
Wade looked away.
Iris saw it.
Laura extended one hand.
“WHERE DID YOU HIDE IT? GIVE IT TO ME!”
Richard stepped forward quickly.
“Iris, just do what your mother says.”
Iris stared at him.
Then Wade.
Her uncle had gone pale.
The room became quiet enough to hear the refrigerator humming in the connected kitchen.
Iris straightened slowly.
“How do you know I have millions of dollars?”
Laura froze.
Richard’s jaw tightened.
Wade turned toward the window.
Iris looked at all three.
She had learned about the money six days earlier.
Not from her parents.
Not from a relative.
From attorney Grace Monroe, who had contacted her through school records after failing for months to get a private response.
Grace told Iris:
On your eighteenth birthday, a blocked account becomes subject to your control.
Approximate value:
$5.18 million.
Iris told nobody.
Not Laura.
Not Richard.
Not Wade.
She wanted time to understand why the money existed.
Now her mother knew the exact rounded amount.
Laura lowered the cane.
“We were going to tell you.”
“When?”
Richard said:
“Today.”
Iris laughed once.
“You were going to tell me after hitting me?”
Richard’s face changed.
Then Wade muttered:
“The bank opens at nine tomorrow.”
Iris turned.
May you like
“How do you know that?”
Wade realized too late what he had said.
