Chapter 1 - The Kick in the Rose Garden
Tabitha Foster’s silver heel struck the back of Paige Everett’s knee before Paige even heard her cross the stone path.
Paige’s leg folded.
Her body pitched into the white rose bushes, sending petals scattering over her dirt-stained apron. She dropped hard onto one knee beside the carved stone border, catching herself with her forearm.
The pruning shears remained safely pointed toward the ground.
“Start packing,” Tabitha said.
Paige looked up slowly.
Tabitha stood above her in an ivory dress and diamonds, framed by the arched entrance of the estate Paige’s father had built.
The same estate where Paige had grown up.
The same estate where her father had died three weeks earlier.
Paige had spent the morning pruning his favorite roses because it was the only place where she could still feel close to him.
Tabitha looked toward the mansion with a smile.
“Tomorrow, it’s ours.”
Paige’s fingers tightened around the white rose in her palm.
Calvin, Paige’s ex-husband, had married Tabitha less than four months after their divorce became final. Now he claimed Paige’s father had secretly promised him the estate.
Paige knew that was impossible.
Her father had never trusted Calvin.
He had trusted Tabitha even less.
But the official will had disappeared after his death.
Without it, Calvin had produced an older document naming Paige’s younger brother, Kyle, as temporary executor—and Kyle had suddenly stopped answering Paige’s calls.
Tabitha grabbed the top of Paige’s apron and tried to pull her upright.
Paige twisted free.
Tabitha kicked the small gardening bucket in frustration.
It scraped across the stone path and slammed against the rose bed.
The lowest branches lifted.
Beneath them lay a damp cream-colored envelope.
Paige’s breath stopped.
She recognized the corner of her father’s personal seal.
Tabitha did not see it.
Not yet.
Paige forced herself to stand, placing her body between Tabitha and the bush.
Tabitha leaned close.
“The roses go first.”
Paige let the flower fall.
When Tabitha’s eyes followed it, Paige crouched, seized the envelope and slipped it beneath her apron.
Tabitha caught only a glimpse.
Her smile disappeared.
“You talk too much,” Paige said.
Tabitha lunged for the apron.
Paige caught her wrist and shoved it aside.
Tabitha stumbled backward in her heels.
Paige pulled the envelope halfway out.
Inside was a sealed document.
And a small brass key.
The moment Tabitha saw it, her face changed.
Her eyes flew toward the locked balcony room on the mansion’s second floor.
Paige followed her gaze.
“What did you open?” she whispered.
Tabitha said nothing.
May you like
But her terror answered for her.
👉 The key had belonged to Paige’s father—and the only room it opened had supposedly remained sealed since the night he died.
