They had spent the whole summer acting careful. My mother clipped coupons in front of me and sighed over grocery prices. My father shook his head when I suggested one quiet weekend away together, like I had asked him to buy a second house instead of share a motel room and a diner breakfast. “This summer we’re staying in,” Mom told me. “It’s just too much.” I believed her because believing them had become a reflex, even after years of little disappointments. They knew I kept one reserve account for emergencies, and they knew my health was the reason I guarded it like oxygen. At 3:08 in the morning, my phone buzzed hard enough to wake me. The notification said $9,860 had been withdrawn from my reserve fund. I sat up so fast the room tilted, opened the banking app, and watched my own life turn into someone else’s vacation. There were first-class flights to Mykonos. There was a luxury suite, a private driver, designer shops, spa treatments, and restaurant holds that cost more than my rent. Every charge use

“Did you speak to her?”

“Briefly.”

“What did she say?”

Diana pulled a chair closer.

“She said she knew nothing about the companies or the accounts. She asked about you and the baby.”

Audrey looked away.

For years, she and Seraphina had existed inside a carefully maintained tension. They attended the same holidays, smiled for the same photographs, and spoke politely when other people were listening.

But there had been moments when Audrey wondered if Seraphina’s cruelty was partly performance.

At family dinners, Beatrice rewarded sharpness. Julian used humor to avoid choosing sides. Seraphina had learned early that the safest place in the Sterling family was beside the person with the most power.

“Did she seem sincere?” Audrey asked.

“I don’t know her well enough to judge.”

“Neither do I.”

That truth felt strange after six years.

Diana folded her hands.

“There’s something else.”

Audrey waited.

“Owen left the estate before agents could question him.”

“When?”

“Security footage shows his car leaving twelve minutes before the paramedics arrived.”

“Before the raid?”

#

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