Chapter 4

The second day on the medication. Time was running out.

I called Chloe. My childhood best friend. A brilliant lawyer, daughter of a retired federal judge. She was the only one I could trust.

"Chloe, I need to see you. Urgently."

We met at a quiet café, far from my neighborhood. I handed her a heavy, sealed box.

"Don't open this until you hear from me, or if you don't hear from me by the end of tomorrow," I told her. My voice was steady.

Her eyes searched mine, full of concern. "Sarah, what' s going on? You look... too good."

"Inside," I said, tapping the box, "are all the original documents. My real will. A full account of Jessica' s manipulations, evidence I' ve gathered over years. Her faked illness, everything. Specific instructions for you."

Chloe' s legal mind was already working. "Evidence of duress for what you've signed recently?"

"Exactly." I smiled, a thin, tired smile. "She won't get a penny of it, Chloe. Not in the end."

"Sarah..."

"Just promise me. After I' m gone."

She nodded, her expression grim. "I promise."

I hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Chloe. For everything."

Back home, I packed a small bag.

"I'm going on a short trip," I announced to Mark and my parents, who were fussing over Jessica in the sunroom. "To clear my head."

Mark frowned. "Now? Jessica still needs support."

"I' ll be fine, Mark," Jessica said sweetly, though her eyes narrowed at me. "Sarah deserves a break."

My mother sniffed. "Well, don' t be long. We have a lot to manage here."

No one asked where I was going. No one offered to come. Leo was with Jessica, playing a new video game she' d bought him. He barely looked up.

I walked out. Unnoticed.

I drove for hours, towards the coast. Towards a small, quiet town I' d always loved. A place of happy memories, before.

The medication was making me feel lightheaded, but the pain was still gone.

I had one day left.