CHAPTER 2 – THE LETTER IN THE BARN
I didn’t move for a full ten seconds.
Every instinct told me to leave. But something stronger told me to stay.
“Hello?” I called out.
Silence answered me.
I grabbed the rusted key tighter and opened the first envelope.
Inside was a single note.
“Do not trust what Marcus is building in Los Angeles. Go to the barn. Burn the past before it burns you.”
My throat went dry.
Jenny’s handwriting was calm. Too calm.
Like she knew exactly how I would feel reading it.
I stepped outside toward the barn.
The wind had picked up. The doors creaked open on their own.
Inside, it smelled like old wood and oil.
Then I saw it.
A locked metal cabinet bolted to the ground.
My name was written on it.
Not by me.
By Jenny.
I opened it with shaking hands.
Inside were files. Contracts. Bank statements.
And photos.
Marcus. His wife. A real estate developer. And lawyers I recognized from the will reading.
But the dates didn’t make sense.
These papers were signed months before Jenny died.
My heart started racing.
“She knew…” I whispered.
A voice echoed behind me.
“You finally found it.”
I turned fast.
A man stood in the doorway. Mid-forties. Calm suit. Familiar face.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
He stepped forward slowly.
“I was your wife’s attorney,” he said. “And the only reason you are still alive in that family.”
My hands tightened.
“What is this?”
He looked at the files.
“Your son is not just taking your home, Mr. Preston. He is taking control of everything your wife built.”
I shook my head.
“No. Jenny was a teacher. Not a billionaire.”
The man gave a sad smile.
“Then you never really knew her.”
He pointed at the documents.
“The farm is not land. It is ownership. It controls the trust behind the penthouse, the company holdings, everything.”
My legs weakened.
“And Jenny left it to me?”
He nodded.
“Because she knew Marcus would try to erase you first.”
Before I could speak, headlights lit up outside.
Multiple cars.
The attorney turned sharply.
“They found you.”
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CHAPTER 2 END.
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