Chapter 2 - THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE ATTACK
Three weeks earlier, Lily sat alone in a cardiologist’s office while rain streaked the windows.
Dr. Anita Shah placed a scan on the illuminated screen.
“The valve is failing faster than we expected.”
Lily already knew something was wrong.
She could no longer climb the stairs without stopping halfway. Her fingers sometimes turned cold and pale. At night, she woke with pressure crushing her chest.
Still, hearing the truth made the room feel smaller.
“How long can we wait?” Lily asked.
“Not long.”
Dr. Shah recommended a complex open-heart procedure at a specialty hospital in Boston.
The surgery was risky.
Without it, the risk was greater.
Lily stared at the cost estimate.
Her insurance would cover part of it, but the remaining medical expenses would be paid through the trust her mother had created before dying eight years earlier.
The Nora Hart Medical Trust contained $412,000.
It had one purpose.
Keeping Lily alive.
When Lily returned to the mansion that evening, Richard was in his study studying financial reports.
He barely looked up when she entered.
“The surgery is scheduled for next month,” Lily said.
Richard continued turning pages.
“How much?”
“The trust covers it.”
Only then did he lift his eyes.
Something changed in his expression.
Not concern.
Calculation.
“The entire trust?”
“Most of it.”
Richard leaned back slowly.
“That money has been sitting untouched for years.”
“Because Mom created it for my health.”
“I know why your mother created it.”
His voice carried an edge Lily did not understand.
She waited for him to ask whether she was frightened.
He never did.
Instead, he asked for the exact date the hospital planned to withdraw the first payment.
That night, Lily lay awake listening to her heartbeat stumble in the darkness.
Downstairs, Richard made a phone call behind the locked door of his study.
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“We have less than a month,” he said. “Once the hospital takes the money, we lose our only way out.”
👉 Lily believed her father was talking about the surgery—but the person on the other end was her brother.
