“She gets a share too?” I said slowly, my heart sinking.
“Yes, Dawn. But there’s a condition. Charlotte has to share the house with you equally.”
I sat up straighter. Suddenly, there seemed like a way out of this mess.
“If your sister refuses, she gets absolutely nothing.”
“There’s more,” he continued. “Your father left you this.”
He slid a letter across the table to me.
It was my dad’s writing.
Dawn, my darling,
I know Charlotte, sweetheart. I know what she’ll do. But you are smarter than her. You always have been. The money is in a safety deposit box. Use it wisely, my girl.
I love you more than anything.
—Dad
I stared at the details of the bank account.
“I don’t know the code to the safe deposit box,” I whispered.
The lawyer smiled.
“The watch,” he said simply.
I took Dad’s watch off my wrist and turned it over. On the back, there were tiny scratches. Four digits, faint but visible.
A code!
Matthew grinned.
“Your dad was a genius, Dawn.”
I laughed, like really, really laughed, for the first time since he d-ied.
Charlotte had the house, but she also had all the debt. And she had just kicked out the one person who could save her from losing everything.
I was still staying at the bed and breakfast a few days later when Charlotte called me. I let it ring while I went to get myself a glass of water.
