The Story Continues After Part 2

She had always been especially close to me. Attorney Caroline Mercer welcomed me into her office and placed several folders on the conference table. “Meredith, your aunt left you a very substantial estate,” she explained.

PART 3

The Name on the Deed

Caroline turned the first folder toward me, but it was the photograph clipped inside that took my breath away.

Aunt Eleanor stood beneath the stone entrance of a Manhattan tower.

I recognized the building.

Grant had once taken me past it and said the rent there was more than our mortgage.

“Eleanor held sixty-one percent of Ashford Tower Partners,” Caroline said.

“Your inheritance includes her controlling interest, liquid investments, and several smaller properties.

The latest valuation is approximately twenty-four million dollars, subject to taxes, expenses, and market changes.”

I couldn’t immediately grasp a number that large.

What I could understand was a line on the next page: Calloway Residence, Westchester County.

Owner: Ashford Family Residential Trust.

“That can’t be right,” I whispered.

“Grant bought our house before we married.”

“Grant did not buy it.” Caroline removed a second sheet.

“Eleanor arranged the purchase through the trust.

She allowed you and Grant to live there under an occupancy agreement.

Your aunt was very particular about the arrangement.”