CHAPTER 4 – The Will They Never Wanted Me to Read
Stella couldn't take her eyes off the security still.
The timestamp read:
8:14 p.m.
Three nights before Adrian had proposed.
Chloe stood alone inside Adrian's office.
She wasn't rushing.
She wasn't nervous.
She opened the biometric safe with practiced confidence, as if she had done it many times before.
Inside sat three things.
Her mother's velvet jewelry box.
A thick envelope marked LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.
And a black leather folder stamped:
BLACKWOOD FAMILY TRUST – CONFIDENTIAL
Chloe never touched the necklace first.
She ignored it.
Instead, she photographed every page of the will.
One page after another.
Slowly.
Methodically.
Only after finishing did she take Stella's mother's necklace from its box.
She held it against her neck.
Smiled into her phone's front camera.
Then carefully placed it back before closing the safe.
It wasn't theft.
It was rehearsal.
Someone wanted proof that Chloe had access.
Maya paused the footage.
"Notice anything?"
Stella frowned.
"The safe opened too easily."
"Exactly."
"Biometric safes don't magically recognize assistants."
"Only registered users."
Stella's stomach tightened.
"So Adrian..."
"...gave her access," Maya finished quietly.
For ten years Stella believed there were only two registered fingerprints.
Adrian's.
And hers.
She remembered the day they installed the safe.
Adrian had smiled.
"Now only we can protect what's precious."
She almost laughed.
How many lies had been wrapped inside beautiful promises?
Maya enlarged another frame.
"There."
Near the edge of the desk.
A reflection.
A polished silver picture frame revealed someone standing outside Adrian's office.
Watching.
Not entering.
Just...
Watching.
The image was blurry.
Impossible to identify.
But whoever it was...
Knew Chloe was inside the safe.
Meaning she wasn't acting alone.
That afternoon Stella did something she had avoided for years.
She visited Leonard Grayson.
The Blackwood family's attorney.
His office overlooked downtown Manhattan.
Old money.
Dark wood.
Heavy silence.
He greeted her warmly.
"Stella."
"What a surprise."
She smiled politely.
"I have a question."
"Anything."
"If Adrian died tomorrow..."
Leonard froze.
Only for a heartbeat.
But Stella saw it.
The tiny hesitation.
The lawyer recovered instantly.
"That's an unusual question."
"I know."
"I'd still like an answer."
Leonard folded his hands.
"His estate would follow the current will."
"Can I see it?"
"I'm afraid that's confidential."
"Even though I'm his fiancée?"
"I'm afraid so."
Another carefully worded answer.
Not a denial.
Not confirmation.
Just enough truth to hide something larger.
As Stella stood to leave, Leonard unexpectedly said,
"Marriage changes many things."
She stopped.
"What do you mean?"
"The law treats a wife very differently than a fiancée."
He smiled professionally.
"Just something to remember."
His words echoed inside her head long after she left.
Not advice.
A warning.
That evening Adrian invited her to dinner.
Their favorite rooftop restaurant.
The same table where he had proposed.
Candles.
Wine.
City lights.
Everything looked perfect.
Too perfect.
Halfway through dessert Adrian reached across the table.
"I've been thinking."
"So have I."
He smiled.
"I want us to sign a few documents before the wedding."
"What documents?"
"Nothing complicated."
"Our lawyers prepared everything."
Again.
Lawyers.
Always lawyers.
Never love.
"What kind of documents?"
He looked almost offended.
"Just estate planning."
"You know how my family's finances work."
Stella nodded slowly.
"I'd like my own attorney to review them."
The smile disappeared.
Immediately.
Only for a second.
Then it returned.
"Of course."
But his fingers tightened around the wine glass.
Hard enough for his knuckles to turn white.
He hadn't expected resistance.
Later that night Adrian fell asleep on the couch while reading emails.
His phone buzzed.
One message appeared on the locked screen.
Chloe: She asked about the paperwork.
Stella's pulse quickened.
Another message arrived seconds later.
Don't panic. I'll handle her.
No name.
Just the reply.
The sender wasn't saved.
Almost as if Adrian didn't want anyone recognizing the contact.
Stella quietly photographed the screen before it locked again.
The following morning she met Maya inside a quiet café.
Maya studied the photograph.
"They're coordinating."
"I know."
"But here's what's strange."
She enlarged the image.
"Look at the timestamp."
7:02 a.m.
"But Adrian told you he was asleep until nearly eight."
"He lied."
"No."
Maya shook her head.
"He wasn't the one who sent that message."
Stella stared at her.
"What?"
"Modern phones allow paired devices."
"Laptops."
"Tablets."
"Smartwatches."
"Someone else could've been answering."
Stella felt a chill crawl up her spine.
Meaning...
Someone else had access to Adrian's private messages.
That afternoon Maya's investigator uncovered something even stranger.
Chloe hadn't rented her luxury apartment.
It belonged to an anonymous holding company.
Created only eighteen months earlier.
Owner:
Unavailable.
Director:
Unavailable.
But the monthly payments...
Originated from an account connected to...
Blackwood Family Legal Services.
Not Adrian.
Not Blackwood Holdings.
The family lawyers.
Someone inside the legal department had been secretly funding Chloe's entire lifestyle.
That evening Stella received an elegant cream-colored envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Adrian kneeling during his proposal.
Ring in hand.
Stella smiling through tears.
Written across the back in black ink were six chilling words.
He proposed after changing the will.
Nothing else.
No signature.
No explanation.
Just those six words.
Her hands began shaking.
She immediately called Maya.
"I need the date Adrian changed his will."
Maya was silent for several seconds while checking her files.
Then she answered quietly.
"...Three days before he proposed."
Three days.
Not after.
Before.
The proposal had never been the beginning of their future.
It had been the final step in someone else's plan.
Before Stella could speak again, another notification lit up her phone.
A news alert.
Blackwood Holdings CEO Adrian Blackwood Announces Surprise Press Conference Tomorrow Morning.
No explanation.
No topic.
Just one sentence.
Minutes later Chloe uploaded another photo.
This time she wasn't hiding.
She stood in front of a mirror.
One hand resting on her stomach.
The other gently touching Stella's mother's necklace.
The caption made Stella's blood run cold.
"Tomorrow... everyone will finally know the truth."
Stella stared at the screen.
Then at the anonymous photograph in her hand.
For the first time, she realized something terrifying.
Tomorrow's press conference wasn't about business.
It wasn't about the wedding.
It wasn't even about the pregnancy.
Someone was preparing to destroy her reputation...
In front of the entire country.
May you like
And they believed she had absolutely no idea what was coming.
End of Chapter 4...
