Chapter 3
Maya arrived the following evening.
I was sitting in Rebecca's guest bedroom when I heard a car pull into the driveway.
My attorney had insisted that I stay with her temporarily while the police investigated the assault and the threats against me.
I had protested.
I didn't want to inconvenience anyone.
Rebecca had looked at me and said something I was still learning to accept.
"Evelyn, receiving help doesn't make you helpless."
So I stayed.
I was reading when the doorbell rang.
A moment later, I heard footsteps rushing down the hallway.
"Grandma!"
Maya appeared in the doorway.
She was twenty-four now, tall and beautiful, with her mother's warm brown eyes.
She dropped her suitcase and ran toward me.
I barely had time to open my arms before she hugged me.
Then she saw my face.
Her entire body stiffened.
"Oh, Grandma."
I tried to smile.
"It's not as bad as it looks."
She stepped back.
"Please don't say that."
Tears filled her eyes.
"Your eye is bruised. You're using a cane. And Dad did this to you."
I looked away.
Hearing her say it made everything feel painfully real.
Maya knelt in front of my chair.
"Why didn't you call me?"
I touched her cheek.
"Because you were starting your new job. I didn't want to worry you."
She shook her head.
"You're my grandmother. You don't have to protect me from knowing you're hurting."
I began crying.
I hadn't cried in front of anyone since the hearing.
But Maya's words broke something open inside me.
For years, I had been the person everyone depended on.
The person who solved problems.
The person who made sacrifices.
Now I was being told that I mattered even when I couldn't help anyone.
Maya hugged me again.
"I'm here," she whispered. "And I'm not leaving you to handle this alone."
That night, Rebecca explained the situation.
She showed Maya the trust documents and described the guardianship petition Daniel had filed.
Maya listened silently.
When Rebecca finished, my granddaughter looked at me.
"Grandma, I don't care about the house."
I smiled sadly.
"I know."
"I mean it. I'd give up every dollar if it meant you were safe."
I reached for her hand.
"Your grandfather knew that about you."
She looked down.
"He did?"
I nodded.
"He wanted you to have something your father never learned to value."
"What?"
"A home that couldn't be gambled away."
Maya covered her mouth.
Then she began crying again.
The next morning, Rebecca received an update from the police.
Investigators wanted to review the original security footage and interview several people who had visited my house in the weeks before the assault.
One name immediately caught my attention.
Harold Price.
Harold was Daniel's business partner.
He had visited my home repeatedly that summer.
At the time, Daniel claimed they were discussing a new investment project.
But I remembered something strange about those visits.
Whenever Harold arrived, Vanessa would disappear into the dining room with a folder of documents.
Daniel would close the door.
And if I approached, the conversation stopped.
I mentioned this to Rebecca.
She took notes.
"Did you ever hear what they were discussing?"
I thought carefully.
Then a memory returned.
One afternoon, I had entered the kitchen to make tea.
Daniel was standing near the pantry speaking on his phone.
I heard him say, "Once the property is transferred, Harold can secure the financing."
When he noticed me, he ended the call.
I had asked whether everything was all right.
He smiled and kissed my forehead.
"Just business, Mom."
At the time, I believed him.
Now the memory made me cold.
Rebecca asked whether I could remember anything else.
I recalled Vanessa asking me to sign paperwork she described as an insurance update.
The documents had been unusually thick.
When I asked to read them, she became irritated.
"Don't make everything difficult, Evelyn."
I had refused.
Daniel became furious when he found out.
That was the beginning of the arguments that eventually led to the staircase.
Rebecca listened carefully.
Then she contacted the attorney handling the trust.
By afternoon, we had learned that someone had recently attempted to obtain information about the trust's assets.
The inquiry came through a company connected to Harold.
Rebecca's expression darkened.
"They may have been trying to find another way to control the property."
Maya crossed her arms.
"Then why did Dad file the guardianship petition?"
Rebecca considered the question.
"One possible explanation is that he hoped to gain authority over Evelyn's financial decisions after she refused to sign voluntarily."
I stared at the floor.
My son had wanted control so badly that he was willing to make me look mentally incapable.
That evening, Maya and I sat together reviewing old family photographs.
She found one of Daniel holding her when she was a baby.
"He used to love me," she whispered.
I looked at the photograph.
"He still may, in his own way."
Maya shook her head.
"Love doesn't mean much if someone keeps choosing to hurt you."
I couldn't argue.
She told me that Daniel had stopped paying attention to her after his divorce from her mother.
When Vanessa entered his life, things became worse.
Vanessa criticized Maya's clothes.
Her grades.
Her friends.
Even the way she spoke.
Daniel always defended his wife.
Eventually, Maya stopped visiting.
I had known they were distant.
But I hadn't realized how deeply my granddaughter had been wounded.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
She looked at me.
"For what?"
"For not understanding sooner."
Maya squeezed my hand.
"You were the one person who never made me feel unwanted."
I hugged her.
For the first time, I understood why Thomas had been so determined to protect her future.
The next day, Rebecca received a call from the trust attorney.
Someone had attempted to submit a document claiming that Maya had waived her interest in the property.
Maya stared at Rebecca.
"I never signed anything."
Rebecca nodded.
"That's what I expected."
She placed the document on the table.
At the bottom was Maya's name.
The signature looked convincing.
But my granddaughter immediately pointed at it.
"That's not how I sign my name."
My heart began pounding.
Daniel hadn't simply targeted me.
He had targeted his own daughter.
Then Maya noticed something else.
Beside the signature was a date.
She stared at it.
"Grandma, I wasn't even in the United States that day."
Rebecca leaned forward.
"Where were you?"
Maya swallowed.
"I was in Canada for my company's training conference. I have the flight records."
Rebecca reached for her phone.
"Then we may have evidence that this document is false."
Maya looked at me.
Her eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and determination.
May you like
My son had tried to steal from the two women who loved him most.
And he had just made a mistake that might finally expose the full plan.
