Chapter 1The Cost of Favoring His Secretary

On the day Mom's condition turned critical, I stared at the mounting hospital bill and called my husband.

He didn't even hesitate. Half a million dollars appeared in my account within minutes.

But when I tried to use it, the transfer was frozen — pending review. It never cleared. Not even by the time Mom was wheeled into surgery.

I crouched in the hospital hallway and called him again and again. No one picked up.

On the seventieth call, he finally answered.

"Honey! They're starting the surgery. Mom's in so much pain right now. I'm begging you."

All I got back was the flat drone of a dropped call.

I waited. And waited.

I waited long enough to receive Mom's death notice.

I waited long enough to see what his secretary had posted: a photo of a necklace worth a fortune, wrapped around her neck.

[One offhand "I like it," and Mr. Gilmer wired me half a million dollars just like that.

[Guess this wild little kitten finally found the collar that fits.]

Robert Gilmer finally deigned to call me back.

"Accounting still needs to sign off on it. Can't your mom wait a little longer?"

I looked over at my own mother, standing right there beside me outside the operating room, very much alive.

And that was when it hit me.

He'd thought the one dying was my mother.

* * *

"Angeline, is Robert back yet?" Mom asked, a note of worry in her voice.

Ever since my mother-in-law, Cassidy Gilmer, had been hospitalized, my mother, Denise Bross, had been helping care for her too.

"That boy… If he doesn't hurry, he won't even make it in time to see his mother one last time."

I stared at the phone that no longer rang through and let out a sigh. "He's not coming back. We should start handling the funeral arrangements."

Word of Cassidy's death rocked the whole city within hours. I was in the middle of packing up her belongings when Robert Gilmer finally took me off his blocked list.

"Who gave you permission to go around spreading rumors about my mother? So what if I didn't wire your mother's medical bill in time?

"Melanie already looked into it. Your mother's condition isn't even serious. Besides, that necklace Melanie wanted could've been snatched up by someone else any second.

"And for that, you go around cursing your own mother-in-law? That's crossing a line."

"Robert!" Anger flooded through me. "Your mother passed away! It's not a prank!"

He gave a cold laugh. "Angeline, my mother's health has always been solid. I read her checkup results every month. I'd know."

"She had a sudden medical emergency."

"Enough. I know you're still sore about the necklace I bought Mel, but she's been doing great work lately. I was just rewarding an employee. Even if you're jealous, this is a filthy way to handle it.

"I'll let it go this time. Do it again, and I really will divorce you."

He hung up. A text came through a moment later. Half a million dollars, deposited.

I sent it right back, untouched, with a note attached: [Don't need it.]

Robert never wrote back.

I arranged for my mother-in-law's body to be brought to the funeral home, collected her urn, mourned her together with Mom, and then dropped Mom off at her home.

Mom had barely been gone a few minutes when she called me back, panic thick in her voice, "Sweetheart! Help me, please! Someone's tearing down the house, and now they're coming after me!"

I got home as fast as I could. A massive excavator had already flattened half the old house Mom had lived in for over forty years. She was on her knees in the dirt, covered in dust, still trying to crawl back toward the house.

"Stop! You can't dig here! My husband's things are still inside!"

But the burly man leading the crew grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back. "The hell you think you're doing? Mr. Gilmer personally ordered this demolition. What are you doing?! Protesting that you weren't compensated enough?"

"Mom!"

I threw myself at the man and shoved him off her, then wiped the blood and dirt from her face.