What My Mother Left Behind
Chapter 07 - What My Mother Left Behind
My mother was not a sentimental woman.
Margaret Harper believed emotions were private and contracts were sacred.
She built Harper Transport with two trucks and a second mortgage.
By the time she died, the company operated in six states.
Caroline and I were supposed to inherit equal shares.
At least, that was what I remembered.
But the final documents said otherwise.
Caroline received nothing.
I received controlling interest.
Then, within eighteen months, I signed my interest over to a restructuring company.
Richard's company.
Except I didn't remember signing it.
My attorney found the document.
The signature looked like mine.
Almost.
But the date was impossible.
On the day I supposedly signed it, I had been in Washington presenting arguments before a federal appeals panel.
There was video.
There were court records.
There were witnesses.
I had not been in Millbrook.
Richard had forged my signature.
That was the first moment I understood the scale of what he had done.
He hadn't simply lied about knowing Caroline.
He had isolated both sisters.
He made Caroline look like a thief.
He made me look like the successful daughter who benefited from her fall.
Then he took everything while we blamed each other.
Lucy sat beside me as I stared at the document.
"Are you mad at my mom?"
The question destroyed me.
I looked at her.
"I was."
"Why?"
"Because I believed something that wasn't true."
She considered that.
"Mom said grown-ups do that when the truth hurts."
I smiled sadly.
"Your mom was right."
Lucy leaned against me.
For the first time since entering the ballroom, she allowed herself to relax.
Then she whispered something.
"Mom told me she had proof."
I looked down.
"Proof of what?"
"That Richard stole Grandma's company."
"Where?"
Lucy hesitated.
"She said it was somewhere you would remember."
"Where?"
Her eyes met mine.
"The place where two sisters promised never to leave each other."
I knew exactly what she meant.
The kitchen window.
We returned to the blue house that night.
Behind the carved initials E + C, one section of wood was loose.
Inside the wall was a small flash drive.
But before I could remove it, headlights swept across the kitchen.
Someone had pulled into the driveway.
Lucy grabbed my hand.
A car door slammed.
Then another.
May you like
And Richard's voice came from outside.
"Evelyn!"
