Chapter 1 - The Daughter Who Stayed
Rosehaven Estate had never felt like a mansion to Paige.
To visitors, it was a Mediterranean masterpiece surrounded by stone arches, tall cypress trees, fountains, terraces, and gardens overlooking the California hills. To Paige, it was the place where her mother had taught her to bake bread, where her father had taught her to plant roses, and where every hallway contained the sound of someone she had lost.
Her mother had died when Paige was twenty-three.
Afterward, Theodore became quieter. He stopped hosting enormous parties and spent most mornings in the garden.
Paige stayed close.
Her older brother Kyle moved to New York, where he built a reputation as a financial consultant. He called their father on holidays and visited whenever he needed money.
Paige never criticized him for leaving. She believed people carried grief differently.
When Theodore was diagnosed with a serious heart condition, Paige moved into the guest wing of Rosehaven. She managed his appointments, prepared his meals, and sat beside him during sleepless nights.
Her husband Grant complained constantly.
“We have our own life,” he told her. “Your father can hire nurses.”
“He doesn’t need a stranger every hour,” Paige replied. “He needs family.”
Grant did not understand that answer.
He understood money, status, and appearances. When he had married Paige six years earlier, he had been charming and ambitious. He worked in luxury real estate and spoke often about building a future together.
Over time, Paige realized the future he imagined depended heavily on her father’s fortune.
Grant studied Rosehaven as though it were already his.
He measured rooms, discussed renovations Theodore had never requested, and once invited an architect to inspect the west terrace without permission.
Theodore dismissed the architect and later warned Paige.
“A man who counts your inheritance while I am still breathing is not planning a life with you,” he said.
Paige defended Grant then.
She wished she had listened.
During Theodore’s final months, Grant traveled more frequently. He claimed he was meeting investors. Paige later discovered that many of those trips were spent with Tabitha Lane, a wealthy socialite whose family had lost much of its fortune.
The affair became public two weeks before Theodore died.
Grant did not apologize.
He packed his clothes and told Paige that their marriage had been unhappy for years.
Tabitha waited in a white sports car outside Rosehaven while he left.
Paige stood at the front door, too numb to cry.
Theodore watched from the library window.
That evening, he found his daughter in the rose garden.
“I failed to see what he was,” Paige whispered.
“No,” Theodore replied. “You saw what he pretended to be. That is not the same failure.”
He placed a hand over hers.
“When greedy people believe they have won, they become careless.”
May you like
Paige assumed he was trying to comfort her.
She did not know he had already begun preparing a final test.
