Chapter 2 - The Brother Michael Banished
Emily had met Richard Hartwell only twice.
The first time was at her wedding.
He had arrived alone, stood at the back of the chapel, and left before the reception dinner. Michael refused to explain why his older brother had been treated like a stranger.
The second time was at Sophie’s first birthday party.
Richard brought a wooden music box carved with three small birds, even though Ava had not yet been born.
“Three birds?” Emily had asked.
Richard looked toward Michael.
“One for every chance this family has left.”
Michael’s expression turned cold.
Richard departed ten minutes later.
After that, the brothers stopped speaking.
Margaret told everyone Richard had become arrogant after building Hartwell Capital into a multibillion-dollar investment firm. She claimed he had abandoned the family company when it needed him most.
Michael told Emily only that Richard could not be trusted.
Now Michael’s secret message instructed her to trust him.
Emily sat on the laundry-room floor after midnight, turning the brass key between her fingers.
She still had no functioning phone, but Lily’s tablet could connect to the staff network from the corner near the door.
Emily searched for Richard’s company.
She found a public contact page, dozens of news articles, and a photograph of him standing outside a glass tower in Singapore.
He had not attended Michael’s funeral.
Margaret had announced that Richard was too busy to honor his own brother.
Emily opened the company’s general email address and began typing.
Richard,
Michael left me a message telling me to trust you. Margaret has frozen our accounts and moved the girls and me into the laundry room. I found a key hidden in Michael’s sweater.
I do not know what it opens.
I do not know which version of his will is real.
Please contact me before Margaret discovers the key.
Emily
She pressed send.
The message disappeared.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the tablet disconnected from the network.
Emily tried again.
The password had changed.
A shadow moved beneath the laundry-room door.
Someone was standing outside.
Emily quickly hid the key inside Ava’s stuffed rabbit and placed the toy beneath the child’s arm.
The door opened.
It was Rosa Delgado, the housekeeper who had worked for the Hartwell family since Michael was a teenager.
Rosa carried a tray with sandwiches, fruit, and four glasses of milk.
“You should not be here,” Emily whispered.
“I know.”
“If Margaret catches you helping us, she will fire you.”
“She already plans to.”
Rosa placed the tray on a basket.
“Mrs. Hartwell has asked the staff to report everything you say and everything the girls do.”
“Why?”
“She is searching for something.”
Emily glanced toward Ava’s stuffed rabbit.
“Did Michael leave anything with you?”
Rosa’s eyes filled with fear.
“The night before his accident, he came to the kitchen. He said he had finally discovered how money was disappearing from the girls’ trust accounts.”
“What trust accounts?”
“The ones he created after Lily was born.”
Emily stared at her.
Michael had never told her about separate trusts.
Rosa continued.
“He said he was going to confront his mother. Before he left, he gave me a phone and told me to hide it.”
“Where is it?”
“I put it inside the old linen cupboard. The next morning, the cupboard had been emptied.”
“Margaret found it?”
“I do not know. But someone did.”
A floorboard creaked in the corridor.
Rosa immediately straightened.
Margaret entered without knocking.
Her eyes moved from the food to Rosa.
“I do not remember authorizing a midnight meal.”
“The children had not eaten dinner,” Rosa replied.
“They refused dinner.”
“They were served food containing nuts. Sophie has an allergy.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“Leave us.”
Rosa obeyed, but as she passed Emily, she whispered two words.
“Check underneath.”
Margaret waited until the door closed.
Then she placed a document on top of the washing machine.
“Sign this.”
Emily did not touch it.
“What is it?”
“A temporary acknowledgment that you will remain at Hartwell Manor until the estate review is finished.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I will petition the court for custody of the children.”
Emily laughed once in disbelief.
“You called them worthless.”
“Courts prefer wealth and stability over emotional accusations.”
Margaret placed a pen beside the document.
“You have no money, no home, and no evidence that Michael intended to leave you anything.”
Emily looked down at the signature line.
It was blank.
But beneath the final paragraph was a sentence printed in smaller text.
The undersigned accepts any subsequent amendments attached by the executor.
Emily pushed the document away.
“I am not signing a blank agreement.”
Margaret picked up the pen.
“Then perhaps your daughters should become accustomed to sleeping without you.”
After she left, Emily locked the door and examined the food tray.
Rosa had said to check underneath.
Taped beneath the tray was a photograph of Michael standing beside an unknown man.
The man wore silver cufflinks shaped like wolves.
May you like
On the back, Rosa had written a single sentence.
This man attended the funeral, but he was not there to mourn.
