Chapter 3 - The First Missing Name
The document was not a tax adjustment.
It was a marital property acknowledgment.
Buried beneath six pages of legal language was a clause stating that Margot voluntarily waived any claim to several investment accounts.
She recognized none of them.
Her name appeared on the first page.
On the final page, it had been removed.
Only a blank line remained beneath a yellow tab.
Margot photographed every page.
Then she opened the desk drawer Lucas used for household records.
Locked.
She tried the brass key hanging beside the bookshelf.
Nothing.
Margot remembered how Lucas had stood near that drawer at two in the morning.
She planted both feet, gripped the handle, and pulled hard.
The old wooden lock tore free.
Folders slammed against the frame.
Inside were bank statements, royalty reports, and transfer confirmations she had never seen.
Her publishing income had been routed through an unfamiliar company called Ashdown Literary Holdings.
The company’s registered manager was Lucas.
Margot’s hands began to shake.
At the back of the drawer sat a small metal box.
A key had been taped underneath.
She ripped it loose, unlocked the box, and threw open the lid.
A revised will slid forward.
So did a divorce agreement.
Pencil arrows pointed toward blank signature lines.
Her name had been deleted from both.
The front lock turned.
Lucas’s voice carried through the foyer.
“Margot, I brought something for you to sign.”
She shoved the photographs into a hidden folder on her phone and pressed the documents against her chest.
May you like
His footsteps moved toward the study.
👉 With nowhere to hide the broken drawer, Margot had only seconds to turn discovery into deception.
