Chapter 1: The Paper in the Trash
263 words
The smell of stale dust and my own nausea was a suffocating mix. I gripped the edge of Mark’s mahogany desk, waiting for the room to stop spinning. The chemo brain fog was lifting, but my body still felt like a hollowed-out shell.
I bent down to retrieve a dropped tissue and my hip bumped the heavy brass wastebasket. It tipped, spilling crumpled balls of paper across the Persian rug. I sighed, kneeling to scoop them up.
One balled-up sheet was heavier than the others. Thicker stock.
My fingers smoothed out the wrinkles.
It was a Term Life Insurance Policy.
The nausea spiked, but this time it wasn’t the medication. The coverage amount was staggering: Five million dollars. The insured? Linda Vance. Me.
I scanned down to the signature line, dated two days ago. It was a neat, looping cursive that looked nothing like my jagged, shaky hand. A Forged Signature.
My eyes darted to the beneficiary line.
Barbara Vance.
Panic, cold and sharp, pierced through the fog. My mother-in-law had taken out a policy on her dying daughter-in-law? No—she had bet against my survival. This was Life Insurance Fraud in black and white.
The floorboards in the hallway creaked. I scrambled to shove the paper into the pocket of my oversized hoodie, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
The door handle turned slowly.
Barbara walked in, a vision in expensive black silk and pearls. She offered a smile that didn't reach her eyes, freezing the air in the room.
End of Chapter 1
