“Albert?”
“He’s eighty-nine.”
“He beats me at chess.”
“That doesn’t mean he understands finances.”
“What finances?”
Silence.
Tiny.
But enough.
Marcus knew.
I said:
“Good night.”
“Claire, wait.”
I hung up.
Then I called Naomi.
PART 11
The next morning, we went to the bank with Albert.
The box contained no stacks of cash.
No diamonds.
No cinematic treasure.
It contained paper.
Contracts.
Patent records.
Correspondence.
Tax documents.
And three envelopes.
One addressed to me.
One to Marcus.
One to Daniel’s attorney.
My name was in Daniel’s handwriting.
I opened mine.
Claire,
If you are reading this, then either I finally found the courage to
explain everything, or I ran out of time.
I covered my mouth.
Daniel had written the letter eighteen months before his death.
He had known there was a problem.
Not with his heart.
With his family.
PART 12
Daniel explained that the royalty interest had grown significantly.
Not billionaire money.
But substantial.
Enough that Marcus became obsessed.
Daniel feared that if I knew, I would try to repair the brothers’
relationship.
He was right.
I had spent years trying to make peace between them.
So Daniel hid the conflict from me.
I became angry reading that.
Even dead, he had decided what truth I could handle.
Then I reached the next paragraph.
I am sorry. I told myself I was protecting you from Marcus. The truth
is, I was also protecting myself from the argument I knew you would
force me to have.
That sounded like Daniel.
Painfully.
PART 13
The royalty interest had been placed into a legal structure with me
designated as the intended beneficiary after Daniel’s death, subject to
documentation.
But some paperwork had never been finalized before his sudden death.
Albert possessed evidence of Daniel’s intent and original agreements.
Naomi explained that resolving everything could require probate
proceedings and negotiation.
There was no magical transfer.
But the documents mattered.
Then I opened Marcus’s envelope.
I should not have.
It was not addressed to me.
I stopped.
Naomi said:
“That one should go through counsel.”
I put it down.
Grief had already taught me enough about boundaries.
I did not need to become someone who opened other people’s letters
simply because I was angry.
PART 14
Marcus filed objections when the matter surfaced.
He claimed Daniel had promised him part of the rights.
He produced emails.
Some were real.
