My phone buzzed.
Arthur’s voice was calm. “I’m twenty-six minutes away.”
“Good,” I said. “Bring the signed originals.”
“All of them?”
I looked at my reflection in the glass doors. A seventy-year-old woman in a silver dress. Red cheek. Straight spine. Dry eyes.
“Yes,” I said. “All of them.”
Inside, Vanessa had become reckless.
I heard her through the open doors.
“Honestly, she’s impossible,” she announced. “Daniel has been carrying that woman for years.”
Her father raised his glass. “Then tonight, we cut the dead weight.”
Laughter.
My fingers tightened around my purse.
A waiter approached me carefully. “Ma’am, do you need ice?”
“No, thank you.”
“Should I call someone?”
“I already did.”
Through the doorway, I saw Daniel surrounded by Vanessa’s cousins. One of them clapped him on the shoulder.
“Man, your mom is stubborn. But once she realizes she’s alone, she’ll sign.”
Sign.
So that was the plan.
Not just keys.
The apartment was only the beginning.
Two weeks earlier, Daniel had visited me with flowers. Vanessa had brought homemade soup. They had smiled too much. They had asked about my will, my bank accounts, my health. Vanessa had even mentioned a “family property transfer” for tax purposes.
