At least not for her.
“She targeted my son,” I whispered.
Rebecca nodded.
“The marriage gave her access to your family.”
Daniel stepped backward as though someone had punched him.
His wedding flashed through my mind.
Jenna crying at the altar.
Jenna holding my hands and calling me Mom.
Mark raising a champagne glass.
To Daniel and Jenna. May you always choose each other.
Every word had been poison.
“What happens if I sign those papers?” I asked.
Mr. Hale answered.
“Control of the land shifts into a marital trust.”
“And if I divorce Mark afterward?”
“He retains significant authority until litigation resolves it.”
“And if I die?”
No one answered immediately.
That silence was enough.
Daniel’s head snapped toward Mr. Hale.
“If she dies?”
“The trust passes primarily to the surviving spouse.”
Daniel’s voice became ice.
“My father.”
Rebecca looked
at me.
“That abandoned lodge you followed them to—Dad once owned part of that property.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“It has a basement storage room.”
“So?”
She looked toward Hale.
The lawyer opened another folder.
Inside were photographs.
Old ledgers.
Bank transfers.
Contracts.
Rebecca said, “Twenty-seven years ago, I hid copies of Mark’s financial records there.”
Daniel understood first.
“That’s what they were looking for.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And if they find them, they destroy the last original evidence linking Mark to the old fraud.”
I wiped my face.
“Then we get there first.”
Rebecca stared at me.
“Carol, this isn’t only adultery anymore.”
“I know.”
“These people have protected themselves for decades.”
“I know.”
“They may be dangerous.”
I stood.
For the first time since the hotel parking lot, I felt completely calm.
“They think I’m the grieving wife.”
I picked up my phone.
“They think Daniel is the stupid
husband.”
