Chapter 4

The moment the alarm sounded, my phone began vibrating wildly.

I answered. Lucas’s laughter poured through the speaker.

“Claire, I’m the one who installed the security system in that old house.”

“The alarm calls my phone automatically.”

“So? Found the safe that old hag left behind?”

Loud music and celebratory cheers filled the background.

“Turn on the TV,” he said smugly. “Take a look.”

I pulled myself up against the wall and switched on the study television with shaking hands.

A lavish brand launch was being broadcast live.

CHLOE & LUCAS GOURMET glittered across the stage backdrop.

Chloe stood under the spotlights in Mom’s silk dress.

Facing the cameras, she wept prettily.

“I promise to fulfill my godmother’s final wish and carry on the spirit of Hart’s Kitchen.”

“I’ll make this brand stronger than ever, so she can rest in peace.”

Thunderous applause filled the room.

Then Lucas joined her onstage and wrapped an arm around her.

In front of the assembled press, he announced:

“Chloe & Lucas Gourmet will establish a charitable foundation supporting mothers who have lost their only children.”

The camera moved in for a close-up.

“As the foundation’s first event, we’ll be holding a memorial dinner tomorrow night for my mother-in-law, Evelyn Hart.”

“We will also ‘invite’ her biological daughter, Claire Bennett, to become our first participant in an act of repentance.”

“At the dinner, she will kneel before her mother’s portrait and publicly apologize for her sins.”

I screamed into the phone. “In your dreams, Lucas!”

His laughter grew louder.

“In my dreams? Claire, want to guess what I have?”

“I have the complete security footage of your mom falling out of bed, struggling on the floor while nobody helped her.”

“Choking to death on that pie.”

I stopped breathing.

“What if I posted it with the sounds Chloe and I were making behind the curtain?”

“Think those righteous little internet warriors would tear you apart?”

“They’d say her ungrateful daughter drove her to her death.”

He hung up.

The study went silent except for my ragged breathing.

I collapsed in front of the safe, tears streaming down my face.

My thoughts were chaos. Lucas’s threats. Chloe’s tears. The image of my mother dying in agony.

Then something Mom used to scold me with surfaced from the depths of my memory.

“One measure wrong, one minute short, not ten parts heart! You’ll never learn to make a decent pie!”

Those words had followed me like a curse since childhood.

Every time I proudly brought her a batch I’d made with such care, I heard the same harsh criticism.

I’d always thought she was hopelessly disappointed in me.

But now—

One measure. One minute. Ten parts heart.

My eyes flew wide.

Not numbers.

The combination wasn’t numbers. It was words.

I reached out with trembling fingers and turned the old safe’s lettered dials, one letter at a time.

A click.

The safe sprang open.

There was no cash or jewelry inside. No property deeds.

Only a notebook, a flip phone, and a seal.

A single name was engraved into the base in bold, elegant lettering.

Claire.

I picked up the black notebook and opened to the first page.

Mom’s familiar handwriting stared back at me.

“Claire, if you’re reading this, it means I’ve lost. My unexpected death has left you trapped.”

“But don’t be afraid.”

“Mom’s game has only just begun.”