Chapter 2 - THE BUILDING I DIDN'T KNOW I OWNED
My mother died when I was nineteen.
Heart failure.
Fast.
Ordinary.
At least, that was what I believed.
She left me three things.
A silver bracelet.
A box of recipes.
And enough money to finish college.
No building.
No hidden fortune.
No bookstore.
So when Olivia said I owned half of Maple Street Books, I almost walked away.
Then Daniel said:
“Don’t.”
I looked at him.
He was staring at Olivia.
“Who told Jason?”
She answered:
“A lawyer.”
“What lawyer?”
“Peter Sloan.”
Daniel’s face went completely still.
That scared me more than shouting would have.
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Good?”
“No.”
Great.
We moved the conversation into a private dining room.
Daniel did not order anyone locked inside.
He did not take phones.
He simply asked whether Olivia wanted to explain.
She did.
Badly.
Jason had contacted her two weeks earlier.
He said I had inherited an ownership interest in the building where Maple Street Books operated.
The building sat on land targeted for redevelopment.
Jason represented a small real-estate fund.
He needed my signature.
I had apparently ignored three mailed notices.
“I never got anything.”
Olivia looked ashamed.
“Jason said you were avoiding him.”
“I blocked him.”
Fair.
Then Olivia said:
“He offered me five thousand dollars if I got you into the same room as Daniel Brooks.”
Megan stared.
“You took money?”
Olivia began crying.
“I needed it.”
“For what?”
“My brother’s rehab.”
Silence.
Not excuse.
Context.
I understood desperation better than I wanted to.
“But why Daniel?”
Olivia looked at him.
“Because Jason said Mr. Brooks was trying to buy the property too.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“I am not.”
Then he looked at me.
“But my company is buying the block across the street.”
There it was.
Close enough to create a story.
If someone photographed me secretly meeting Daniel, they could claim I was negotiating with a competing buyer.
Pressure.
Conflict.
Maybe invalidate something.
Daniel asked:
“What document does Jason need?”
Olivia handed over a folded copy.
I read.
CONSENT TO PARTITION AND SALE.
My name appeared beneath:
Emily Rose Carter.
One-half beneficial interest.
The other half?
The Carter Literary Trust.
I stared.
“What is that?”
Daniel looked at the legal language.
“Something your mother created.”
My breathing changed.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t.”
Then he pointed.
“Trustee: Peter Sloan.”
The same lawyer.
Jason’s lawyer.
The man Daniel distrusted.
Perfect.
Then Chloe finally spoke.
“I need to say something.”
We all turned.
She had been silent for ten minutes.
Her face was pale.
“Jason didn’t just want the photograph.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
“He told Olivia to get Emily drunk.”
Olivia closed her eyes.
Megan swore.
I stared at Olivia.
She whispered:
“I wasn’t going to.”
“But you agreed initially.”
“Yes.”
“To what?”
“To get you to sign something.”
I felt cold.
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“What?”
Olivia shook her head.
“I never saw it.”
Then Chloe pulled out her phone.
“I did.”
A screenshot.
A different document.
Not the property sale.
A power of attorney.
Limited at first glance.
But buried beneath the language was authority over all inherited trust property.
If I signed while “celebrating” a blind date?
Jason could control everything.
Then Daniel looked at me.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“Your ex-boyfriend didn’t cheat on you and move on.”
May you like
His eyes became cold.
“He spent a year getting close enough to learn what your mother left you.”
Related Stories
