Chapter 10 - The Empty Safe
I drove home instead of the hospital.
Priya argued for thirty seconds, then followed me.
The safe was beneath my desk exactly where it had always been.
I entered the code.
The door opened.
Our emergency cash was there.
My passport was there.
The deed to the house was there.
The folder containing my old tax returns was not.
Neither was a stack of documents from when Dad gave me the down-payment money eight years earlier.
“What was in those?” Priya asked.
“Bank statements. A gift letter for the mortgage company. Copies of Dad’s land sale.”
“Anything with your signature?”
“Yes.”
“Many samples?”
“Dozens.”
I sat at the desk.
I could feel eight years of marriage rearranging itself in my head.
Every time Natalie volunteered to organize paperwork.
Every time she insisted we keep finances simple.
Every time she rolled her eyes when Dad asked me to come fix something at his house.
Maybe some of it was ordinary marriage.
That was the worst part.
Once trust breaks, even innocent memories start looking guilty.
I called Natalie.
She answered immediately.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Home.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“I opened the safe.”
Silence.
“Grant—”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
She started crying.
There it was again.
That quiet crying that sounded real because it was.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When? After Dad died?”
“No.”
“After the land was gone?”
“No.”
“After your mother got the other two million?”
“I didn’t know about the two million.”
“But you knew about twenty-five thousand.”
“It was for research. Meetings. They said it was a consulting fee.”
“What did you consult on?”
“You.”
The word came out broken.
I closed my eyes.
She continued.
“They wanted to know what you would accept. Whether you’d fight. Whether Raymond had told you anything. I answered questions.”
“You sold information about me.”
“I thought it would help us control the situation.”
“No. It helped them control me.”
She whispered, “I know that now.”
“Why did Dad ask to see you?”
“He didn’t.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
“I lied because I wanted you to come here.”
“Why?”
“Because someone just went into his ICU room pretending to be family.”
My blood turned cold.
“What happened?”
“The nurse stopped him.”
“Who was it?”
“I saw him from the hallway.”
Natalie’s voice dropped.
May you like
“It was Leonard.”
