Em, if you’re reading this, then they finally got to me. Please don’t trust Grace.
For a second, I could not breathe.
Then I read the next line.
Grace has been stealing from money meant for the kids, and Ryan knows I found out.
I read it once.
Then again.
Then a third time, because my mind refused to connect those words to my sister.
Grace had handled most of our mother’s estate after Mom died. She always said she was better with forms and numbers, and I had believed her.
According to Liam’s notes, she had been skimming money from my share before it was moved into the education fund we had created for Ava and Ben.
He found it while helping me with taxes.
He had written:
I didn’t tell you until I had proof. I knew what accusing your sister would do to you.
There were photos too.
Grace meeting a man behind Liam’s office.
Ryan.
Grace’s ex-husband.
The man she claimed had been out of her life for years.
Liam’s notes said that was a lie.
Ryan had come back broke after a failed business deal. He owed money to dangerous men. Grace had been giving him money, telling herself she was protecting her daughter from his chaos.
Then I saw the line that made my hands go cold.
A week before the crash, someone left a note under my wiper: Drop it. Think of your wife.
At the bottom of Liam’s note, he had written one final instruction.
If Mark gives you this, go to the storage unit. Toolbox. Underside. Don’t tell Grace.
I looked at Mark.
“Did Liam think Ryan would hurt him?”
Mark rubbed both hands over his face.
“He hoped not,” he said. “But he was worried enough to leave this behind.”
I drove home in a fog.
