Chapter 1 - THE SCREAM
Julian Hale came home early to surprise his fiancée.
Instead, he heard his mother screaming.
“Please! Somebody help me!”
The bouquet of red roses slipped from Julian’s hand.
He ran toward the glass doors overlooking the backyard.
Then he stopped cold.
His seventy-eight-year-old mother was in the infinity pool.
Martha Hale’s gray hair was plastered across her face.
Her purple nightgown had filled with water, dragging her downward as her trembling fingers clawed at the stone edge.
And Bianca Laurent stood over her.
Julian’s fiancée.
The woman he was supposed to marry in three weeks.
Bianca wasn’t helping.
She was smiling.
“Bianca…” Martha coughed. “Please pull me out.”
Bianca stepped closer.
Then she pressed the heel of her shoe against Martha’s fingers.
Martha screamed.
Julian’s entire body tightened.
Every instinct told him to rush outside.
But then Bianca spoke.
“You really thought Julian would choose you over me?”
Martha stared up at her.
“He’s my son.”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
Bianca crouched.
“Once Julian marries me, everything changes.”
“This house isn’t yours.”
Bianca smiled.
“Not yet.”
Julian felt his hands curl into fists.
This wasn’t an argument.
This wasn’t anger.
Bianca believed she was alone.
And Julian needed to hear how far this went.
Martha tried to lift herself.
Bianca shoved her hand away again.
“You’ve been trying to turn him against me since the beginning.”
“I tried to warn him about you.”
“Exactly.”
“Because I saw what you were doing.”
Bianca’s smile disappeared.
“You saw nothing.”
“I saw the papers in Julian’s office.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
What papers?
Bianca leaned closer.
“You should have minded your own business.”
Martha looked terrified.
“You changed the beneficiary forms.”
Julian’s heartbeat seemed to stop.
Bianca glanced toward the mansion.
Julian moved deeper into the shadow beside the doors.
“What else did you see?” Bianca asked.
“Enough.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
Bianca slowly stood.
“Nobody will believe you anyway.”
Martha blinked.
“What?”
“You’re seventy-eight.”
“So?”
“You forget things.”
“I do not.”
Bianca smiled.
“I know.”
Martha went silent.
Julian felt ice crawl through his veins.
“But everyone else thinks you do,” Bianca continued.
“What have you done?”
“I’ve been telling people your memory is getting worse for months.”
Martha’s face drained of color.
“The doctor…”
“Concerned.”
“My friends stopped visiting.”
“I helped with that.”
“You canceled my appointments?”
“Some.”
Martha stared at her.
“You monster.”
Bianca laughed softly.
“You’re dramatic.”
“You’re trying to make Julian think I’m losing my mind.”
“Not just Julian.”
Bianca lowered her voice.
“Lawyers. Doctors. The household staff.”
Julian could barely breathe.
This wasn’t spontaneous cruelty.
It was a campaign.
A slow one.
Careful.
Calculated.
“Why?” Martha whispered.
Bianca looked around the mansion.
“Because your son built an empire worth nearly two hundred million dollars.”
Martha’s grip slipped.
“And?”
“And I’m tired of waiting.”
“You don’t love him.”
Bianca’s face hardened.
“Love is what poor people call bad planning.”
Julian felt something inside him break.
Martha struggled.
“If Julian knew…”
“He won’t.”
“He’ll find out.”
“He believes me.”
“No.”
“He sleeps beside me.”
“No.”
“He gave me access to his life.”
Martha shook her head.
“You don’t know my son.”
Bianca smiled again.
“I know him better than you think.”
Martha’s fingers slipped another inch.
“Please…”
Bianca watched her.
“After the wedding, you won’t be alive long enough to complain.”
Julian stepped from the shadows.
“Say that again.”
Bianca froze.
Slowly, she turned.
Julian walked toward the pool.
His face was calm.
His eyes were not.
“Julian…”
He ignored her.
He dropped to his knees and grabbed Martha.
“Mom.”
She sobbed when his hands closed around her arms.
“I’ve got you.”
He pulled her from the pool and wrapped her in his jacket.
Martha shook violently.
Bianca stepped closer.
“This isn’t what it looks like.”
Julian stood.
Water dripped from his sleeves.
“What does it look like?”
“She fell.”
“I heard you.”
Bianca swallowed.
“She was confused.”
“I heard everything.”
“Julian, please.”
He stared at her.
For the first time, Bianca seemed afraid.
“You pushed her hand away.”
“She attacked me first.”
“My seventy-eight-year-old mother attacked you while drowning?”
“She’s unstable.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
There it was.
The lie she had been planting.
He pulled out his phone.
Bianca’s eyes widened.
“Who are you calling?”
“An ambulance.”
“Julian…”
“And the police.”
Her expression changed immediately.
“No.”
Julian looked at her.
“No?”
She grabbed his wrist.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing.”
He pulled away.
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her voice dropped.
“If the police come here, you’re going to regret it.”
Julian stared at her.
“Is that a threat?”
Bianca’s breathing changed.
Then, strangely, she smiled.
“You should check your office before you make that call.”
Julian paused.
“What did you do?”
Bianca backed toward the house.
“Ask your mother what she stole.”
Martha suddenly grabbed Julian’s sleeve.
Her eyes were filled with fear.
“Julian.”
“What?”
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
Martha looked toward Bianca.
Bianca smiled.
Martha whispered:
“She knows about your father.”
Julian went still.
May you like
His father had been dead for eighteen years.
And nobody in the Hale family ever spoke about how he died.
