Chapter 4: The Form on the Table
I drove back to Lake Forest in silence.
The folder sat on the passenger seat.
I didn't look at it.
I already knew what the highlighted line meant, and I needed to be inside that house, looking at Julian's face, before I let myself think about it fully.
He was in the dining room when I walked in, his laptop open, coffee going cold beside him.
Claire sat across from him, scrolling her phone.
They looked up at the same time.
"You're late," Julian said.
"The lawyers called.
They need that form today."
I set my bag down on the chair by the door.
"I'm not signing it."
Julian's expression didn't change right away.
He closed the laptop slowly.
"Excuse me?"
"The dependent closure form.
I'm not signing it today."
Claire put her phone face-down on the table.
"Genevieve, this is a standard estate procedure.
It's not optional."
"Then your lawyers can explain that to my attorney."
Julian stood up.
"You don't have an attorney."
"I do now."
The silence that followed was the kind that fills a room completely.
Julian's jaw tightened.
Claire looked at her brother.
"Who have you been talking to?" Julian asked.
"That's not your concern."
He came around the table, stopping a few feet from me.
His voice dropped, which was always worse than when he raised it.
"Genevieve.
You are grieving.
You are not thinking clearly.
Whatever someone has told you, whatever idea you have gotten into your head, I need you to stop.
Sign the form, let the estate process close out, and then we can talk about what comes next for you."
"What comes next for me," I repeated.
"I've already spoken to the family's housing attorney.
There's a property in Evanston — a small place, manageable.
You could be settled there within the month.
It would be a clean start."
Claire nodded, as if this were a generous offer being declined by someone unreasonable.
I looked at Julian for a long moment.
"You flagged Hazel's medication request for denial," I said.
"Within four minutes of me submitting it.
You had a mobile alert.
You saw it come in, and you marked it before Ximena ever opened the file."
The color in Julian's face shifted.
"That is not—"
"I have the transaction logs.
Timestamped.
Your account credentials on every flag." I picked up my bag.
"And that's before we get to the shell companies."
Claire stood up.
"What shell companies?
Julian, what is she talking about?"
Julian didn't answer her.
He was looking at me with an expression I had never seen on him before.
Not anger.
Something underneath anger.
"You need to be very careful," he said quietly.
"I need to be careful," I said.
"Yes.
I've been careful for three years.
I was careful every time I resubmitted a request.
I was careful when I waited five hours in your lobby.
I was careful the night Hazel died and you came home laughing." I moved toward the hallway.
"I'm done being careful, Julian."
"If you walk out of this house right now," he said, "I will make sure you leave with nothing.
No settlement.
No property.
Nothing.
I have lawyers who have handled situations far more complicated than you."
I stopped at the doorway.
"So do I," I said.
"And mine have the logs."
I walked out.
Behind me, I heard Claire's voice, sharp and rising: "Julian.
What shell companies?"
He didn't answer her.
But I heard him pick up his phone before I reached the front door.
He was already calling someone.
I had expected that.
May you like
Arthur had expected it too.
What neither of us had expected was who Julian called first.
