“He is a liar,” Miranda said, her voice shaking with rage. “He is a disgruntled former employee we let go years ago.”

“I wasn’t let go, Julian,” Bennett said gently. “I was paid to disappear.”

He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a single sheet of faded blue paper.

“This is the authorization slip for the transfer of the Cross family assets,” Bennett said.

He laid it on the desk right in front of Nathaniel.

“I signed it,” Bennett said.

“I signed Arthur Sterling’s name because Miranda told me he had authorized it verbally on his deathbed.”

“That is a lie!” Miranda screamed.

The sound of her voice echoed off the high, book-lined walls of the library.

She pointed a trembling finger at Bennett.

“You are a thief and a fraud,” she said.

“You were paid by these people to come here tonight and ruin my family.”

She turned her furious gaze to me, her eyes wild.

“You,” she hissed. “The quiet little maid who swept my floors.”

“You think you can just walk in here with these old men and take what is mine?”