Chapter 11 - PROJECT WIDOW
Gerald Pike’s laptop changed everything.
The folder titled PROJECT WIDOW contained emails.
Some were encrypted.
Others were not.
Samuel began reading them at 4:30 p.m.
The earliest message had been sent seven months before Michael’s death.
Brooke to Gerald.
Natalie will never voluntarily leave the cottage while Catherine is alive.
We need another mechanism.
Gerald replied.
The trust cannot be altered while Catherine retains capacity.
Brooke responded.
Then we wait.
Natalie looked sick.
Dominic clenched his jaw.
Another thread appeared after Catherine’s death.
Gerald to Brooke.
The widow clause activates only if Natalie voluntarily changes primary residence.
Brooke to Gerald.
Then we make leaving look voluntary.
Dominic stopped Samuel.
“What widow clause?”
Samuel pulled Catherine’s original trust.
“Catherine added a provision after Michael and Natalie married.”
“If Natalie permanently established another primary residence, the cottage could eventually revert to the broader family estate.”
Natalie stared at him.
“I never knew that.”
“You weren’t supposed to worry about it.”
Brooke had known.
The next emails were worse.
Brooke repeatedly asked about temporary leases.
Residency declarations.
School registration.
Utility transfers.
Every method that might make Natalie appear to have relocated.
Then came an email dated eleven days before Michael’s death.
Brooke to Gerald.
Michael is interfering.
Gerald replied.
He understands too much.
Brooke wrote.
Then solve it.
Natalie stood.
Her chair hit the wall.
Dominic grabbed her arm.
She stared at Brooke.
“What does that mean?”
Brooke shook her head.
“It meant solve the legal problem.”
Natalie screamed.
“You wrote it before my husband died.”
Dominic held her back.
Brooke backed away.
“I did not kill Michael.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You paid Elliot.”
“My father paid Elliot.”
“For what?”
Brooke’s lips trembled.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“You knew enough to want Michael’s file destroyed.”
“I knew he had documents that could ruin the wedding.”
Natalie stared at her.
“My husband died and you were worried about your wedding?”
Brooke looked at Dominic.
“Tell her.”
Dominic frowned.
“Tell her what?”
“That Michael wasn’t innocent.”
Natalie froze.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Brooke continued.
“He was investigating your businesses.”
“That’s why he collected files.”
“He thought you were becoming too powerful.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Michael told me.”
Brooke gave a bitter laugh.
“He didn’t tell you everything.”
Dominic gestured toward the laptop.
“Then apparently he was not the only one.”
Samuel clicked another folder.
A video file appeared.
The date was the night Michael died.
The footage came from a parking garage camera.
Michael stood beside his car.
A man approached from behind.
Elliot Vane.
Natalie covered her mouth.
Elliot crouched beside the driver’s side wheel while Michael walked toward a nearby building.
The footage ended after forty-three seconds.
No one spoke.
Then Natalie looked at Brooke.
Brooke whispered.
“I never told him to do that.”
Dominic turned.
“What did you tell him to do?”
May you like
Brooke realized she had just answered the wrong question.
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