PART 3
Rosalind never knocked before entering a room.
She did not believe boundaries applied to her.
So I should not have been surprised when my bedroom door flew open before sunrise and struck the wall.
“Where is it?” she demanded, marching toward me. “The money from your mother’s condo. We need all eight million dollars.”
I stood beside the dining-room table with my handbag still hanging from my shoulder and a thick bank folder in my hands.
I had only returned from San Francisco a few hours earlier after completing the sale of my mother’s condominium in Pacific Heights.
Eight million dollars.
To anyone else, it sounded like a fortune.
To me, it was grief with a number attached.
Every dollar represented my mother’s sacrifices.
The overnight shifts.
The missed birthdays.
The years she spent raising me alone after my father disappeared.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “What did you just say?”
Before Rosalind answered, Gabriel appeared at the bottom of the staircase.
One look at my husband’s face told me he already knew why she was there.
“Valerie,” he said cautiously, “maybe you should sit down.”
Rosalind dismissed him with a wave.
“No. She needs to hear this clearly.”
A tight knot formed in my stomach.
“Hear what?”
Gabriel rubbed his forehead.
“Mom and I were talking. We think the money should be used to help Roderick.”
“Roderick?”
“With his debts.”
His younger brother had been digging himself into financial trouble for years.
Failed businesses.
Speculative investments.
Gambling losses.
Private loans.
Broken promises.
Every holiday dinner ended with another speech about how this time things would finally change.
Apparently, his newest plan involved using my mother’s inheritance.
Rosalind stepped toward me.
“He’s family, Valerie. Your mother would have wanted her money helping family.”
I let out a bitter laugh.
“My mother barely knew Roderick.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“This isn’t the time to be selfish.”
Selfish.
That word hurt more than anything else he had said.
“My mother passed away six months ago,” I replied. “I packed up her apartment myself. I flew across the country. I handled the lawyers, documents, taxes, probate matters, and the sale.”
I looked at him.
“You weren’t there.
“Roderick wasn’t there.
“Your mother wasn’t there.
“Yet somehow all of you have already decided what should happen to my inheritance.”
Gabriel looked away.
“I already promised Roderick we’d help him.”
Something inside me went completely still.
“We?”
Rosalind answered immediately.
“You’re married. What belongs to you belongs to Gabriel too.”
I looked at her.
Then at my husband.
They thought my grief had made me easy to control.
They thought I would surrender simply because they spoke loudly enough.
I placed the bank folder on the table.
Then I smiled.
“You know what?”
Gabriel looked hopeful.
“You’re absolutely right.”
His shoulders relaxed.
Rosalind smiled.
Neither of them knew what was inside the folder.
“Actually,” I said, “I brought something for both of you.”
I sat down and opened it.
Then I removed three white envelopes.
Rosalind narrowed her eyes.
“What is all that supposed to be?”
“A surprise.”
I slid the first envelope toward Gabriel.
“Open it.”
He picked it up, clearly expecting another bank statement.
Then he saw the heading.
The color drained from his face.
He read the document again.
And again.
“What is this?”
“That is our prenuptial agreement.”
Rosalind scoffed.
“And what does some old wedding document have to do with eight million dollars?”
“It has everything to do with it.”
I opened my own copy.
“We signed this three weeks before our wedding.”
Gabriel swallowed.
“Valerie…”
“Don’t interrupt me.”
For the first time in seven years of marriage, my voice stopped him immediately.
“Clause eight states that any inheritance received by either spouse remains that person’s separate property.”
Rosalind’s eyes widened.
“That can’t be right.”
I handed her a copy.
“Read it.”
Her hands began trembling.
“Gabriel, did you sign this?”
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“I never thought it would become important.”
I almost smiled.
That was another mistake.
