CHAPTER 2 — The Morning After
CHAPTER 2 — The Morning After
I barely slept.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard the laughter again.
"Here's your transportation, little witch..."
The sound echoed through my mind until sunrise painted thin orange lines across Piper's living room.
When I finally sat up, my entire body ached.
Not from running.
From years of carrying a marriage that had broken me piece by piece.
The smell of coffee drifted from the kitchen.
Piper looked up when she saw me.
"You don't have to say anything," she said softly. "Just eat first."
She slid a plate of toast toward me.
I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I took the first bite.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Finally, she asked the question everyone else probably would have asked first.
"Are you going back?"
I shook my head before she even finished.
"No."
She studied my face carefully.
"You mean it."
"I do."
For the first time since I had fled Gregory's mother's house, saying the words out loud made them feel real.
My marriage was over.
Or at least...
I wanted it to be.
My phone buzzed again.
Gregory.
I declined the call.
Seconds later another message appeared.
Where are you?
Then another.
You embarrassed my mother in front of everyone.
Another.
Get home NOW.
No apology.
No concern.
Not even a question asking whether I was safe.
Just orders.
Exactly like always.
I blocked his number.
My hands shook afterward—not because I regretted it, but because I had never imagined I'd actually have the courage.
Piper smiled.
"About time."
Around ten o'clock, I finally opened my purse to see what I had managed to bring with me.
Wallet.
Phone charger.
Lip balm.
A folded grocery receipt.
Then...
A white envelope.
I frowned.
"I don't remember putting this in here."
The envelope wasn't mine.
Across the front, written in elegant gold ink, were the words:
For Catherine Only
I froze.
Then memory hit me.
While decorating the gift table the afternoon before, Catherine had ordered me to move several presents into her study.
One stack had slipped.
Cards and envelopes scattered everywhere.
I'd gathered them in a hurry.
Apparently...
One of them had accidentally ended up inside my purse.
"I should probably mail it back," I muttered.
Piper looked up from the sink.
"Open it."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"It isn't mine."
She walked over, folded her arms, and stared at the envelope.
"Elise."
"They threatened you."
"They humiliated you."
"They treated you like dirt."
"If that envelope landed in your bag by accident..."
She shrugged.
"Maybe life wanted you to see it."
I stared at it for nearly a full minute.
Finally...
I slid one finger beneath the seal.
Inside was not a birthday card.
It was paperwork.
Official paperwork.
Stamped.
Signed.
Several pages thick.
The first page made absolutely no sense.
Transfer of Ownership Agreement
Property Address:
1476 Red Mesa Lane
I frowned.
That was Gregory and Catherine's rental property.
Or...
At least I thought it was.
The owner's name listed on the document wasn't Gregory.
It wasn't Catherine.
It belonged to someone named...
Margaret Ellis.
"I've never heard that name," I whispered.
Piper leaned closer.
"Keep reading."
The next document was older.
A death certificate.
Margaret Ellis.
Deceased.
Eight years earlier.
Attached behind it was a handwritten letter.
My heartbeat accelerated.
The handwriting was shaky.
Uneven.
Like someone elderly had written it.
If anything happens to me before this transfer is completed, everything should legally pass to my granddaughter, Elise Morgan.
I stopped breathing.
My own name.
My maiden name.
Elise Morgan.
"No..."
I whispered.
"No... that's impossible."
Piper grabbed the paper.
"Your grandmother's name wasn't Margaret, was it?"
I swallowed.
"My grandmother died when I was six."
"I barely remember her."
"What was her last name?"
I closed my eyes.
Trying.
Searching.
Then suddenly...
I remembered.
One old Christmas ornament.
One faded photograph.
One tiny memory.
Ellis.
Her name had been Margaret Ellis.
I stared at the papers.
The room seemed to tilt.
Gregory had always handled every financial document after we married.
He insisted paperwork "stressed" me.
Whenever letters arrived from lawyers...
Banks...
Government offices...
He took them before I ever saw them.
I never questioned it.
Until now.
There was one final page.
It wasn't addressed to Catherine.
It wasn't addressed to Gregory.
It was addressed to me.
But it had never reached me.
The envelope had already been opened.
Someone else had read it first.
The letter stated:
After repeated attempts to contact the legal heir, we have been unable to locate Ms. Elise Morgan. Ownership remains unresolved pending verification of identity.
The date made my stomach drop.
Five years earlier.
Five years.
Someone had hidden this from me for five entire years.
Piper slowly lowered the papers.
"You don't think..."
I finished her sentence.
"I think Gregory knew."
Silence.
"He married me four months before those letters started arriving."
Neither of us spoke.
Every memory suddenly looked different.
The rushed wedding.
Gregory insisting we combine finances.
Gregory convincing me to quit my bookkeeping job because "a wife belongs at home."
Gregory refusing whenever I wanted to visit the old town where my grandparents had lived.
Every decision.
Every excuse.
Every lie.
It all fit together.
Then my phone vibrated again.
An unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Instead...
I answered.
"Hello?"
A calm elderly man's voice came through the speaker.
"Is this Ms. Elise Morgan?"
"...Yes."
"My name is Arthur Reynolds."
"I'm the attorney handling the Ellis estate."
Ice spread through my veins.
"I've been searching for you for years."
My heart pounded louder with every word.
"I believe," the lawyer continued quietly, "someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure you never learned what your grandmother left behind."
I looked at Piper.
She looked back at me, equally stunned.
May you like
Then the lawyer said seven words that changed everything.
"Ms. Morgan... you may own far more than you realize."
