PART 2
Inside the house, Charles’s phone suddenly started ringing.
He stared at the screen.
For the first time that morning, I saw something I hadn’t seen in my father’s face since he arrived.
Fear.
It lasted only a second.
Then he turned away from the doorway and answered.
“Hello?”
I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, but I could hear my father’s breathing change.
“What do you mean?”
A pause.
“No.
That’s impossible.”
Another pause.
His shoulders stiffened.
“I have the deed.”
My heart pounded.
I looked at Samantha.
She was still on the phone with me.
“Victoria,” she said quietly, “listen to me.
Whatever happens next, don’t confront your father.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.
And don’t let anyone pressure you into signing anything.”
“What did Lucas leave?”
She hesitated.
“That is not the right question.”
I frowned.
“Then what is?”
“The right question is why Lucas was so certain someone would try to take it.”
Before I could respond, the sound of a vehicle pulling into the driveway made my father turn toward the window.
A black SUV stopped near the front steps.
Two people stepped out.
One was a woman in a dark suit.
The other carried a leather briefcase.
Charles immediately ended his call.
Courtney stopped laughing.
“Who are they?” she asked.
My father didn’t answer.
The woman walked to the front door and held up an identification card.
“Mr. Baldwin?
I’m here on behalf of Baldwin-Gallagher Logistics.”
Charles stepped onto the porch.
“This is a private residence.
You need to leave.”
The woman glanced at me.
Then she looked at my father.
“Actually, sir, we need to speak with you about the documents you submitted yesterday.”
Charles’s face changed.
“What documents?”
“The authorization to liquidate the Gallagher estate.”
Courtney shifted uncomfortably.
Charles looked toward the kitchen.
“Victoria gave me permission.”
The woman turned to me.
“Did she?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
The woman nodded once.
“Then we have a serious problem.”
Samantha’s voice came through my phone.
“Victoria, are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“Good.
The ambulance should be there any moment.
Stay where you are.”
I heard another siren approaching.
This time, it was much closer.
My hand rested over my stomach.
The baby moved.
A tiny kick.
For three weeks, I had been afraid of raising my child without Lucas.
Now I was afraid of something else.
What if my father had planned this long before my husband died?
What if the accident, the estate, and the sudden demand for the house were not separate events?
I tried to push the thought away.
It was too terrible to consider.
Then Samantha said something that made my entire body go cold.
“Victoria, Lucas left a sealed letter for you.
It was scheduled to be delivered only if someone attempted to interfere with your inheritance.”
“A letter?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
“I haven’t opened it.
It is addressed to you.”
The ambulance finally arrived.
Paramedics hurried toward me.
One of them knelt beside me.
“Ma’am, can you tell me how far along you are?”
“Eight months.”
“Okay.
We’re going to get you checked out.
You’re not alone.”
As they helped me onto the stretcher, I looked back at my house.
The house where Lucas had proposed.
The house where we had painted the nursery.
The house where I had imagined bringing our baby home.
Charles stood in the doorway.
For the first time, he didn’t look like the man who owned every room he entered.
He looked like a man who had just realized he had made a terrible mistake.
Courtney whispered something to him.
He snapped back.
“Stop talking.”
The woman from Baldwin-Gallagher Logistics stepped forward.
“Mr. Baldwin, you need to come with us.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Then you can explain everything to the authorities when they arrive.”
Charles looked at me.
“Victoria, tell them this is a misunderstanding.”
I stared at him.
He had dragged me out of my home while I was pregnant.
He had watched me collapse on the porch.
He had laughed at my grief.
And now he wanted me to save him.
I said nothing.
The ambulance doors closed.
As we pulled away, Samantha called again.
“Victoria, I need you to listen carefully.”
I held the phone against my ear.
“Lucas didn’t just protect the house.”
“What else did he protect?”
“He protected your future.
And he left instructions about your father.”
My heart began racing.
“What instructions?”
Samantha was silent for a moment.
Then she said:
“Lucas believed Charles might try to take control of the company.
But he also believed your father knew something about the accident.”
I could barely breathe.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that Lucas’s death may not have been as simple as we thought.”
I stared at the ceiling of the ambulance.
The siren echoed around me.
My husband had died on a highway outside Syracuse.
Everyone had called it a tragic accident.
But what if someone had known he wouldn’t be coming home?
What if the man who had just thrown me out of my own house had been waiting for that moment?
Samantha spoke again.
“Victoria, there’s something else.
The person who called your father just now was the bank’s fraud investigator.”
“Why would a fraud investigator call him?”
“Because someone attempted to transfer a large amount of money from Lucas’s trust account this morning.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
Samantha took a breath.
“Four million dollars.”
I closed my eyes.
Four million dollars.
My father had told me the house needed to be sold because of debts.
But he had apparently been trying to take millions from an account I didn’t even know existed.
“Did he succeed?” I asked.
“No.
The transfer was blocked.”
I exhaled shakily.
Then Samantha added:
“But the request was submitted using a document bearing your signature.”
I felt the world tilt.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.
That’s why we’re investigating.”
The paramedic looked at me.
“Ma’am, try to stay calm.”
I nodded.
But my mind was racing.
Who had forged my signature?
Who had access to my personal documents?
And why had my father arrived at my house that morning with a folder and an emergency key?
When we reached the hospital, the medical team rushed me inside.
They checked the baby’s heartbeat.
They monitored my contractions.
They asked me questions I could barely answer.
I kept thinking about Lucas.
About his smile.
About the way he used to place his hand on my stomach whenever the baby moved.
About the nursery we had spent months preparing.
Then I remembered something.
Three days before his accident, Lucas had asked me a strange question.
“Victoria, if something ever happens to me, would you trust Samantha?”
I had laughed.
“Why are you asking me that?”
He had looked toward the window.
“Because she knows where everything is.”
I thought he was talking about paperwork.
I thought he was being overly cautious.
Now I wasn’t so sure.
A nurse entered the room.
“Victoria?
There’s a woman here to see you.”
“Who?”
“She says she’s Lucas’s attorney.”
Samantha walked in carrying a sealed envelope.
She looked exhausted.
But her expression was determined.
“I brought this as quickly as I could.”
I stared at the envelope.
My name was written across the front.
Victoria Gallagher.
Underneath it, in Lucas’s handwriting, were six words.
Open this when they come for everything.
My hands began to shake.
Samantha sat beside the bed.
“Before you open it, there’s something you need to understand.”
“What?”
“Lucas didn’t leave you a fortune by accident.”
I looked at her.
“He planned for this.”
She nodded.
“He knew someone might try to take control of his estate.
He knew they might try to isolate you.
And he knew your father might be involved.”
I stared at the envelope.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because he wanted you to live normally.
He wanted you to believe your life was safe.”
I swallowed hard.
“Was it?”
Samantha didn’t answer immediately.
Then she said:
“Victoria, the highway accident report has a detail that never made it into the news.”
I felt my heartbeat quicken.
“What detail?”
“Lucas’s vehicle had been followed for nearly twenty miles before the crash.”
I couldn’t speak.
Samantha placed the envelope on the bed.
“And the vehicle that followed him belonged to a company connected to your father.”
I stared at her.
My father.
The man who had just dragged me out of my home.
The man who had claimed he was protecting the estate.
The man who had tried to take millions from my husband’s trust.
I reached for the envelope.
But before I could open it, my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number appeared on the screen.
You should have let your father take the house.
A second message followed.
Now you will never see your husband’s real final message.
I looked at Samantha.
She saw my expression.
“What happened?”
I turned the phone toward her.
Her face went pale.
“Don’t reply.”
“Who is this?”
“I don’t know.
But we’re going to find out.”
I looked down at Lucas’s letter.
The envelope suddenly felt heavier than anything I had ever held.
Then I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.
A small handwritten note beneath my name.
Victoria, if you’re reading this, trust no one who says they are doing this for your own good.
I opened the envelope.
And the first line of Lucas’s letter made my blood run cold.
“My love, if Charles Baldwin is standing in our house, then the man I feared has finally made his move.”
I stopped breathing.
Because Lucas had written the letter two weeks before he died.
And he had named my father.
