When he asked why I was there, I didn’t sugarcoat it.
“I inherited a house and investments,” I said. “My family is going to try to take it.”
He didn’t blink. He just nodded, like I’d told him it was raining.
“Tell me everything,” he said.
So I did. Ashley’s entitlement. My parents’ favoritism. The way my mother had looked at me at the funeral, not with grief but with calculation. The way Ashley had already begun making comments about what she “deserved.” The way my father had said, “Well, we’ll figure out what’s fair,” as if fairness was a tool he could use to pry something loose.