Chapter 3 - THE HOUSE HER MOTHER LEFT BEHIND
The property stood on twelve wooded acres in Connecticut.
A pale stone house with a slate roof, tall windows, and a greenhouse that had been abandoned for nearly twenty years.
Christa's mother, Evelyn Dempsey, had called it Bellweather.
She'd inherited it from her grandmother.
And when she died, she'd left it to Christa.
The house had been neglected.
The gardens were overgrown.
The greenhouse windows were broken.
But Christa loved every inch.
It was where her mother had taught her to draw.
Where they'd spent rainy afternoons building miniature houses from cardboard.
Where Evelyn had told her:
“Buildings are just stories people haven't finished telling.”
Christa had become an architect because of those afternoons.
Now someone wanted Bellweather.
Her attorney, Margaret Ellis, studied the documents.
“Your uncle has been acting as trustee for a small maintenance fund.”
Christa frowned.
“I know.”
Margaret looked up.
“But he also signed a preliminary development agreement with Hammond Holdings.”
Christa went cold.
“He what?”
“The agreement claims the property can be transferred if certain debts remain unpaid.”
“What debts?”
Margaret hesitated.
“That's what we're investigating.”
Christa stared.
“My mother owned that house outright.”
“According to the original deed, yes.”
“Then how could Thomas promise it to Gregory?”
Margaret folded her hands.
“He may have misrepresented his authority.”
Christa looked toward the window.
The city moved beyond the glass.
Cars.
People.
Ordinary life.
But something inside her had shifted.
She had believed Gregory wanted a wife he could control.
Now she wondered whether he wanted something much more specific.
May you like
Her mother's land.
And the answer might be hidden in a place she'd spent years trying to restore.
