Chapter 1 - The Roses Heard First
A grieving daughter records her ex husband’s new wife threatening to steal her father’s estate before finding a secret letter beneath his roses.
Paige clipped one dead rose branch beneath the bright Montecito morning sun.
The white roses were still wet with dew.
Her father had planted them himself along the stone path, just beyond the arched entrance of the cream-colored Mediterranean mansion. Cypress trees rose behind the garden walls. Palm shadows moved slowly over the tiled roof. Everything looked peaceful enough to lie.
Paige’s cream gardening apron was stained with soil. Her floral dress brushed against the rose leaves. Her gloves smelled of damp earth and grief.
Then she heard heels.
Hard.
Furious.
Striking the stone path behind her.
Paige paused before turning.
Tabitha stormed toward her in an ivory satin dress, diamonds flashing at her throat, blonde hair perfect, face twisted with triumphant contempt.
“Start packing. Tomorrow this house belongs to Calvin and me.”
Paige rose slowly.
She wiped one gloved hand across her apron and stepped between Tabitha and the rose bushes.
“This is my father’s home, not your reward for stealing my husband.”
Tabitha’s eyes widened with rage.
She grabbed a white rose branch without caring about the thorns and leaned inches from Paige’s face.
“Kyle helped us prove your father was no longer thinking clearly.”
For one explosive second, Paige’s grief vanished.
Then her face became terrifyingly calm.
Her thumb pressed through the fabric of her apron pocket.
The smartphone inside vibrated faintly.
Recording.
Paige closed the red-handled pruning shears and lowered them safely beside her leg.
“Thank you. That was the sentence I needed.”
Tabitha’s confidence collapsed.
She saw the faint recording glow near Paige’s pocket and recoiled.
Then Paige noticed something beneath the roses.
A damp sealed envelope.
Her father’s handwriting.
Unopened.
May you like
Waiting.
Read Chapter 2 👉 Because Tabitha had come to claim the estate, but Paige’s father had left something hidden where only his daughter would look.
