Chapter 11 - Why She Came
Tom pulled out a copy of an email chain.
Linda had sent it to him six weeks earlier.
RYAN FINALLY HAS A SON. FRANK'S CONDITIONS ARE RIDICULOUS. ONCE THE BOY IS WITH FAMILY, THE HOUSE CAN BE SETTLED THE WAY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
I read it twice.
"What house?"
Ryan looked confused too.
Tom tapped the table.
"Your house."
Frank had bought the Dallas property years before Ryan and I married. Ryan believed he inherited it outright.
He hadn't.
The property sat inside the Mercer Family Trust.
Ryan controlled it while he was alive.
But if Ryan was declared incapacitated or an unsafe parent while Noah was a minor, temporary control passed to the child's legal guardian.
Linda had discovered the clause.
"She wants the house?" I asked.
Tom shook his head.
"The house sits on twelve acres. A development company offered Frank eight million dollars for the land before he died. He refused. The offer is probably double that now."
Ryan stared at the email.
"She came here to make Sarah look unstable."
"And you predictable," Tom said. "Frank wrote that Linda's greatest talent was making one person explode, then showing everyone the explosion."
I thought of her grabbing my wrist.
Of the slap.
Of how quickly she cried when Ryan walked in.
She had wanted a scene.
Maybe not the milk.
Or maybe exactly the milk.
My phone rang.
It was our neighbor, Mrs. Alvarez.
"Sarah, I'm sorry to bother you, but your mother-in-law is across the street. She's trying to get into your house through the side gate."
May you like
Ryan stood so fast his chair fell backward.
Then Mrs. Alvarez whispered, "She's not alone."
