strange grief rose in me then, different from rage.
It was not grief for losing him.
It was grief for realizing I had not known the person who lived beside me.
“Anne?” Grace said.
“I’m here.”
“You need a lawyer before you touch the money.”
I laughed under my breath. “That sounds suspiciously sensible for a stranger who just admitted to watching my house.”
“I know how this sounds.”
“No, I’m not sure you do.”
“I’m trying to help my sister,” she said. “And maybe you, too.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucas told Melanie you were greedy. Cold. Difficult. He said you would destroy him financially just to punish him.”
I closed the safe and leaned against the wall.
“And you believed him?”
“No,” Grace said quietly. “Because that was almost exactly what my ex-husband used to say about me.”
For the first time, her voice cracked.
Not dramatically. Just enough for
