I felt the weight of the shears in my hand. “You mean the same Simon who cheated on his wife with his secretary?” I asked quietly. “That ‘son’? The one who stopped calling my father the moment the divorce papers were served?”
“Oh, please, that’s in the past,” she said, waving her hand like she was brushing away a fly. “Harrison forgave him. They kept going to the club together every Sunday until the end. Simon was there when you were ‘too busy’ with your little charity projects. He made sure your father wasn’t lonely.”
The end. It had only been three weeks since we buried my father. Eight months earlier, he’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and everything moved too fast. I didn’t have time to tell him everything I wanted. Not even to ask why, in his final days, my brother Jesse had drifted away from me and grown closer to Simon than to his own blood. Jesse, who had always been a bit weak-willed, seemed to have been swallowed whole by Simon’s influence.
“My father didn’t leave anything to Simon,” I said, my voice gaining strength. “He could be many things, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew who his family was.”
For a moment, Misty’s smile faltered, her painted lips twitching. “We’ll see tomorrow. Jesse doesn’t think the same. In fact, Jesse was the one who suggested we move in to ‘keep the legacy alive.’ It seems your own brother realizes you aren’t capable of maintaining a property of this magnitude on your own.”
A chill ran down my spine. “You’ve been talking to my brother?”
She stepped closer, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper that made my skin crawl. “Let’s just say he helped me understand your father’s mental state in his last months. He was… confused, Cassandra. Forgetful. He signed things he might not have understood if he didn’t have ‘family’ there to guide his hand.”
I gripped the shears so tightly my fingers hurt. My father always said: You have to treat roses firmly, daughter, but never with cruelty. Even thorns have their reason. I realized then that Misty wasn’t just here to gloat; she was here to mark her territory, believing the battle was already won.
“Get out of my house, Misty,” I said, “before I forget to be polite.”
She let out a dry laugh, a harsh sound that startled a bird from a nearby branch. “Your house? How cute. This property is worth a fortune, Cassandra. Did you really think you’d keep it all? Living here like a queen while the rest of us just watch? Simon built his career at your father’s side. He’s owed his share.”
