Home Entertainment Game Technology Advertisement Part 2: For eight years, my parents made me leave the house every time my brother brought his fiance over; Mom said, “She comes from a good family, don’t embarrass us”; Dad added, “Just disappear for the weekend”; I did; then one weekend, I never came back; it took them four years to find out where I went.

I covered my mouth.

The room blurred.

Grandma knew where I went.

Knew Ruth.

Knew I loved trees.

She had bought land quietly.

Not a house.

Not jewelry.

Ground.

Something I could stand on without permission.

Then Mara's expression changed.

“There's a problem.”

“Of course.”

“Your parents used the death certificate after June died.”

My stomach tightened.

“To do what?”

“To claim that you had predeceased your grandmother.”

My breath stopped.

The will said if I died before June, my land passed into the residuary estate.

To Mitch.

Avery whispered:

“He signed the affidavit.”

I looked at her.

“What?”

“Mitch signed a sworn statement that you were dead.”

I stopped feeling surprised.

That frightened me.

Then Mara said:

“But your grandmother anticipated it.”

I looked up.

“She did something they never found.”

“What?”

“A sealed declaration.”

Mara opened her safe.

Inside was a single envelope.

Across the front, in Grandma's handwriting: