Chapter 1 - Send What?
At 5:48 in the morning, Brandon Whitaker burst into Ava’s bedroom barefoot and pale.
“Please tell me you didn’t send it.”
Ava stood beside her old suitcase wearing jeans, white sneakers, and a cream cardigan over the burgundy shirt she had slept in. Two trash bags held the clothes and books that would not fit.
Her father appeared behind Brandon in a brown robe.
“Send what?”
Downstairs, their mother screamed.
They ran toward the foyer.
The metal lockbox from Robert’s office sat open on the hardwood floor. Copies of bank statements, loan notices, trust records, and old family photographs were scattered around it.
Diane stood near the staircase with both hands covering her mouth.
Aunt Melissa, who had arrived before dawn, stared at one of the documents.
Near the open front door stood Claire Bennett, an attorney Ava had contacted weeks earlier.
Brandon knelt beside the papers.
Ava lifted her phone.
“The loans in my name. Grandma’s trust. All of it.”
Robert’s anger disappeared.
Claire opened the folder beneath her arm.
“The university, the bank, and the district attorney have copies.”
Nobody moved.
Ava gripped the handle of her suitcase.
“You can keep Brandon. I’m keeping my future.”
Then she pulled the suitcase toward the front door as dawn light filled the foyer.
May you like
The night before, her parents thought they had forced her to surrender.
They had actually given her permission to leave.
