My mother left me hungry and lonely at 16. When my…

I simply stared at her, forcing her to hold the weight of her own hypocrisy. Paula did not flinch. She smiled, a wide, dazzling expression that did not reach her eyes.

She turned back to the lawyer and waved a manicured hand in the air. “It has been such a long time,” she continued, leaning forward as if sharing a secret. “But tragedy brings people together, doesn’t it?

I know Elliot and I had our differences, but he was still my big brother. Morgan and I will work everything out. We can split the millions as a family.

It is what he would have wanted.”

She said it so casually. Split the millions. As if the last two decades of silence were just a minor misunderstanding.

As if she hadn’t left me to rot. As if she hadn’t left Elliot to die alone in a hospital room while she was vacationing in Europe. I saw Marvin’s eyes narrow slightly, but he did not comment.