“You let Annie stretch every dollar until she was exhausted.”

He looked at me then, and for the first time in months, I saw real regret in his eyes.

“I want the password to the online portal,” Dan said, his voice dropping an octave.

“And I want it right now.”

Juliette drew herself up to her full height, though she seemed smaller than she had an hour ago.

“I don’t have to show you anything,” she said.

“This is my money. I earned it by putting up with your father for forty years.”

“It wasn’t your money,” Dan said.

“The trust was split three ways, Mom. The document is right here.”

“It says my name, and it says Sarah’s name.”

Sarah crossed her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“I didn’t get any of it, Dan,” Sarah muttered.

“She told me it was frozen.”

Juliette whirled on her eldest daughter.

“Shut up, Sarah,” Juliette snapped, her composure slipping entirely.

The heat in the room was suffocating.

I reached over and turned off the oven, where the rolls were beginning to smell scorched.