The object Coralie had pressed into my hand was a small brass key. My brother, Adrian, came down the stairs seconds later and stopped when he saw us beside the freezer. He immediately asked what we were doing. Coralie answered before I could. “Sorting food.” Adrian stared at us for a long moment, then told me he wanted the house cleared quickly because the estate was “already complicated enough.”
After he left, Coralie locked the basement door. We lifted the false bottom together and found a metal document box underneath. The brass key opened it. Inside were bank statements, property records, and a handwritten letter from Mom addressed to me. She explained that Adrian had been pressuring her for months to sign over her house and savings. She had refused, but several documents had appeared afterward carrying signatures she insisted were not hers.
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