THE VOICE BENEATH THE ROSES

Grant married Tabitha six weeks after Theodore’s funeral.

Photos from the ceremony appeared across social media. Tabitha wore a white satin gown, diamond earrings, and a bracelet Paige recognized immediately.

It had belonged to Paige’s mother.

Paige searched the estate inventory.

The bracelet was missing.

So were two antique watches and a set of emerald cuff links.

Grant still knew the security codes from his marriage to Paige.

When she confronted him by phone, he laughed.

“Those things were gifts.”

“They belonged to my parents.”

“Prove it.”

Paige changed every lock and contacted the police, but Grant had already prepared receipts claiming Theodore had transferred the items years earlier.

The receipts looked convincing.

Samuel believed they were forged.

Grant and Tabitha soon began appearing near Rosehaven. They drove slowly past the gates. They sent contractors to inspect the exterior. They told neighbors they would move in after a family dispute was resolved.

Tabitha even mailed invitations to a summer celebration at the estate.

Paige returned every envelope.

Then articles appeared online accusing her of isolating Theodore during his final year. Anonymous sources claimed she had influenced the will.

The stories used photographs taken through the estate fence.

Paige became afraid to leave the property.

Her father’s rose garden became the only place where she felt calm.

Every morning, she tied on his old beige gardening apron and cared for the white roses they had planted after her mother’s death.

The head gardener, Mrs. Alvarez, offered to handle them.

Paige refused gently.

“My father said roses know when they’re being abandoned.”

One morning, Mrs. Alvarez handed her a small brass key.

“Your father told me to give you this when people began circling the garden.”