Chapter 3 — The Alert

Then I pulled out my phone to check the time, and a notification stopped the blood in my veins.

It was not from my site foreman.

It was a high-priority alert from my late father’s estate attorney, Todd Brannon — a meticulous man I hadn’t needed to contact in three years.

The subject line read like a scalpel: URGENT: Custodial Account 8804 — Escrow Anomaly. I stared at it.

Account 8804 was Quinn’s fortress — the supposedly impenetrable vault my father had built to guarantee her independence.