“He wasn’t being reckless.

He was sitting on ninety-four thousand dollars’ worth of forged paperwork his own brother had signed.”

“Dean told the whole town Dad had cracked,” Sophie said.

Her voice turned flat and hard.

“He told the neighbors Dad lost our savings on bad timber deals.”

“Dean needed that story to explain away the gap,” Vance said.

“If the town thought Daniel was ruined, nobody would ask where the ninety-four thousand dollars went.

Dean knew that if he could hang on until the six-year probate deadline, the title would transfer on its own.”