Chapter 5: What His Brother Left Behind
The woman called again twenty minutes later.
This time Thomas put the phone on speaker.
She identified herself as Patricia Lane, a former administrative assistant who had worked for their father’s attorney.
She said Thomas’s brother had discovered that the property sale had been altered after their father’s death.
The original agreement, she claimed, gave part of the proceeds to both brothers.
But the final paperwork listed Thomas’s brother as the sole recipient.
Thomas stared at the pavement.
“I never received anything.”
“I know,” Patricia said.
Evelyn looked at him.
Thomas’s voice dropped.
“My brother told me the money went into an account for me.”
“But it didn’t,” Patricia replied.
She had evidence.
A copy of the original agreement.
And a bank record.
She wanted to meet that evening.
Thomas hesitated.
Evelyn saw the old instinct return.
The instinct to carry everything alone.
She took his hand.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
“Don’t shut me out again.”
Thomas nodded.
The conference ended before sunset.
Marissa approached them near the lobby.
She looked relieved to see Evelyn still there.
“I owe you an apology,” she said.
Evelyn shook her head.
“No. I owe you one.”
Marissa smiled faintly.
“Thomas told me what happened.”
Evelyn looked at her husband.
“You told her?”
“I had to.”
For once, Evelyn didn’t feel jealous.
She felt embarrassed that fear had made her assume the worst.
But the embarrassment carried something else with it: anger at the years of silence between them.
They drove home together.
Neither mentioned the hotel.
Instead, Thomas placed the old family papers on the kitchen table.
At the bottom of the stack was a document neither remembered seeing.
A handwritten note from Thomas’s brother.
It contained only three sentences.
Thomas, if you’re reading this, I didn’t steal your share.
I was trying to protect you.
Ask Dad’s lawyer who changed the final page.
Evelyn read it twice.
Then she looked at Thomas.
“Do you know who your father’s lawyer was?”
Thomas’s face drained of color.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
He whispered the name.
It was the same attorney who still handled the company’s legal work.
And he was scheduled to attend the board meeting that night.
