Claire’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“It was never touched. Your mother lied. The account has been sitting untouched for twenty years. It’s worth over two hundred thousand dollars.”
The room tilted.
Claire sat down hard.
“Are you still there?” Detective Chen asked.
“Yes.”
“Your parents are being charged with financial exploitation, theft, and fraud. Your sister is being charged as an accessory. The DA believes we have enough evidence to proceed to trial.”
Claire couldn’t speak.
“Claire?”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
She ended the call and sat there, staring at nothing.
Edward appeared in the doorway.
“What did she say?”
Claire told him.
Every word.
When she finished, Edward’s face was stone.
“They’ll pay for this.”
Claire looked down at Lily.
Her daughter’s tiny hand curled around her finger.
“I don’t want revenge,” Claire said quietly.
“Then what do you want?”
She thought about it.
“I want them to know they lost.”
Edward’s mouth curved into something sharp.
“They already do.”
The trial took six months.
Claire didn’t attend most of it.
She couldn’t.
Every time she thought about sitting in a courtroom and watching her parents lie, her chest tightened until she couldn’t breathe.
