Chapter 2 - THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Chapter 2 - THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
I read the note three times before I understood what it meant.Arthur Bell.
The name meant nothing to me.
But when I showed it to Wyatt, his expression
changed.
“Isn't that the man from your parents' house?”
I nodded.
“The one behind the curtain.”
Wyatt immediately called the nurse.
Ten minutes later, an elderly man with silver hair entered my hospital room.
He wore a dark wool coat despite the warm weather.
His hands trembled slightly.
But his eyes were sharp.
“You're Sadie Davis,” he said.
“Yes.”
“My name is Arthur Bell.”
“I know.”
He looked at the bandage around my head.
“I am sorry.”
“Why were you at my parents' house?”
Arthur lowered himself into the chair beside my bed.
“Your father asked me to come.”
“Why?”
“To discuss the old estate.”
My heart began beating faster.
“What estate?”
Arthur stared at me for several seconds.
Then he reached into his coat and removed a leather folder.
“Your grandfather's.”
I laughed once.
It hurt immediately.
“My grandfather died when I was a child.”
“Yes.”
“And he left everything to my father.”
Arthur's mouth tightened.
“That is what your father told you.”
I stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
Before he could answer, the hospital door opened.
Two police officers entered.
Wyatt stood immediately.
One officer introduced himself as Detective Harris.
“We need to speak with you about what happened at the house.”
I told them everything.
My father had attacked me.
My mother had laughed.
Melanie had admitted they expected me to move aside.
Gregory had stopped Wyatt from calling 911.
The officers listened carefully.
Then Detective Harris told me there were already witnesses.
The electrician had called emergency services.
A neighbor had seen Gregory holding the brick.
A delivery driver had witnessed part of the fight.
A teenager across the street had recorded several seconds of the confrontation.
And two other people had seen Gregory attempt to prevent help from reaching me.
Six witnesses.
Six separate pieces of the same story.
My mother had already started telling relatives that I had attacked my father first.
Melanie had posted a photograph online with the caption:
Some people will do anything to destroy their own family.
The photograph showed her crying.
There was no mention of the brick.
No mention of my blood.
No mention of the six witnesses.
Wyatt looked at the post and shook his head.
“She really believes she can rewrite reality.”
“She has been doing it for years,” I said.
Arthur slowly opened the leather folder.
Inside was a copy of a document.
At the top were the words:
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM DAVIS.
My grandfather.
I stared at the page.
“Why have I never seen this?”
“Because your father never wanted you to.”
Arthur explained that he had been my grandfather's attorney.
My grandfather had created two wills.
The first was simple.
It gave Gregory control of the family estate.
The second was different.
Much different.
“Why would he create a second will?”
Arthur looked toward the hospital door.
“Because he became concerned about your father.”
My stomach tightened.
“What kind of concerns?”
“Financial concerns.”
I thought about the family home.
The large house.
The lake property.
The old commercial building downtown.
My grandfather had owned all of them.
I had always been told my father had inherited everything.
Arthur shook his head.
“Your grandfather believed your father was taking money from the estate.”
“Was he?”
Arthur didn't answer immediately.
“Your grandfather suspected it.”
I looked down at the document.
“Then why didn't he stop him?”
“Because he was ill. And because he believed he had created a safeguard.”
“What safeguard?”
Arthur turned the page.
I read the next paragraph.
My hands began to shake.
The estate was not automatically Gregory's.
A second beneficiary had been named.
Me.
I looked up.
“Why?”
Arthur's eyes softened.
“Because your grandfather believed you were the only person in the family who would not allow the estate to be destroyed.”
A cold silence filled the room.
Then Arthur said something that made my blood run cold.
“Your father knows this will exists.”
“How?”
“Because he was present when it was signed.”
I stared at him.
My father had known.
All these years.
He had known that the life he built could one day belong to me.
And suddenly, the attack on the porch looked very different.
Arthur closed the folder.
“Sadie, your family has been trying to control your future for a long time.”
I looked toward Wyatt.
“Why would they suddenly care so much about who I marry?”
Arthur didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into the folder and removed one more document.
A bank statement.
My name was on it.
So was Wyatt's.
May you like
And beneath the account details was a line that made my heart stop.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT — DAVIS FAMILY RESIDENCE.
