“He was a tyrant,” Celeste shot back. “And you were his warden.”

Vivien stood. “There is no Samuel.”

The room stopped breathing. Leo spoke first. “He’d never agree.”

For the first time, Leo spoke. “Maya doesn’t know she’s in the will at all.” He looked at his mother. “You told me to hide her. You said it would ‘simplify things.’ But you knew. You knew Dad left her a share too—the orchard, outright. You just wanted me to choose.”

Harold adjusted his glasses. “There is a codicil, Mrs. Merrick, signed six months before your husband’s death. It leaves Samuel the family’s shares in the Merrick Trust—controlling interest, in fact—provided he divorces his wife and returns to the faith.”

Celeste laughed. It was a hollow, cracking sound. “He died still writing melodrama.”

She left the front door unlocked.