Sixteen days after my wedding, my mother-in-law pressed lemon cake into my face in front of twenty-two relatives—and accused me of marrying her son for money.

Connor instantly stepped in front of me, his hands raised. "Mom, back off! How did you even track us here?"

"Your truck has an onboard GPS linked to the Mercer family account, Connor," Linda said with a cruel, satisfied smirk. "Did you really think you could outsmart me in my own father's house?"

The two men behind her were private security contractors—burly, stone-faced men with earpieces.

"Step away from the safe," Linda ordered, her voice cold and level. "Give me the covenant documents, and we can all leave here without anyone getting hurt."

"This is grand larceny and extortion, Linda," I said, holding Arthur’s letter firmly against my chest. "We have the metadata from your digital forgery, we have the original 1989 deed, and we have Arthur’s signed testament declaring your fraud."

"An old man's senile scribbles mean nothing against an executed corporate closing," Linda snapped. "The Raleigh developer has already wire-transferred three million dollars into escrow. The contract closes in seventy-two hours. Once that wire clears, that paper in your hand is just trash."

"Mom, stop!"

A car door slammed outside. Seconds later, Claire stumbled through the carriage house threshold, her hair windswept, her mascara smeared across her cheeks. She was panting, clutching her purse to her chest.

"Claire?" Linda frowned, her composure slipping. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay in Richmond!"

"The FBI is at the house, Mom!" Claire wailed, her voice cracking in hysterical terror. "They showed up an hour ago with a federal subpoena for your laptop and my iPad!"

Linda’s eyes flared wide. "What are you talking about?!"

"I told you Emily is a cybersecurity director!" Claire screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Her firm filed an emergency cyber-fraud affidavit with the Department of Justice this morning! They traced the digital notary stamp to Harold Vance's office, and Vance cracked! The second the feds walked into his office, he handed over your recorded phone calls!"

Linda took a staggered step backward. "Vance wouldn't dare..."

"He did, Mom!" Claire sobbed, dropping to her knees on the carriage floor. "He told them you promised him ten percent of the eight million dollars! He told them you promised me two hundred thousand to pay off my debts if I signed Emily’s name on my iPad! I’m facing five years in federal prison, Mom! Five years!"

The two private security guards exchanged nervous glances. Without a word, both men backed out the door, climbed into their black SUV, and sped down the gravel driveway, leaving Linda completely alone.

"Cowards!" Linda screamed into the wind.

She turned back to us, her face contorted in frantic desperation. She lunged forward, clawing toward the papers in my hand. "Give them to me! That money is mine! Arthur owed me that money! My husband left me with nothing but this rotting name!"

Connor caught his mother by the wrists, holding her back with firm, unyielding strength. "It was never yours, Mom. It's over."

Linda struggled against her son’s grip, her polished facade completely disintegrating into hysterical sobs. "Connor, please! If that sale doesn't close, the creditors will take everything! The Richmond house is mortgaged to the hilt! We have nothing left!"

"Then you should have learned to live within your means," I said coldly.

I held up my phone, which had been recording the entire exchange. On the screen, a call with Special Agent Marcus Reed of the Richmond Cyber Crimes Task Force was actively connected.

"We heard everything, Mrs. Mercer," Agent Reed’s voice boomed through the speaker. "Dare County Sheriff’s deputies are pulling up to the estate right now. Please keep your hands where they can be seen."