The air in the garden felt heavier after her words, but I didn’t move.

I watched her carefully, trying to understand why she sounded so certain.

Misty brushed a strand of hair back and glanced at the house behind me.

She said Simon had already prepared everything for tomorrow’s reading.

That name still had the power to twist something inside my chest.

Twelve years of marriage had ended with betrayal I never saw coming.

Now his new wife stood in front of me talking about my father’s estate.

I reminded her again that this was not her place to decide anything.

She only smiled again, softer this time, like she was waiting for proof.

The silence between us stretched across the rose garden like a warning line.

I finally turned toward the house, feeling that something about tomorrow had already been decided without me.

And for the first time, I wondered what my father had really left behind.