Chapter 7 - The Name Beneath the Drawing

"Why would Mom write that?" I asked.

Grandma ran a finger over the pencil lines. "Holt Mercer tried to buy the block twelve years ago. Your mother helped the neighboring shops fight the zoning change. He lost a lot of money."

"So he's trying again?"

"Maybe. But a man doesn't spend twelve years angry over one little bakery unless there's something larger at stake."

We drove to see attorney Maya Chen, who had handled Mom's estate. Maya didn't dramatize. She listened, scanned the forged notice, and pulled the original ownership agreement from her archive.

"The building is owned equally by Daniel and Tessa," she said. "Neither may sell the whole property without the other's valid signature. That is clear."

For the first time since Christmas decorations had been put up, I could breathe.

"So they can't sell it."

"Not lawfully. But someone has created documents pretending you agreed. That means we act now, not after a closing."

Maya prepared a written notice disputing my signature and sent it to the title company and Mercer Development. She also referred the loan and invoices to a forensic accountant.

While she worked, my phone lit up with messages from neighbors I'd known since childhood.

Are you okay? one asked.

I clicked the town community page. Corinne had posted a thirty-second video titled A HEARTBREAKING CHRISTMAS AT HOME. It showed me on the floor, crying beside the destroyed gingerbread house. The video began after the crash.

Her caption said she was praying for my recovery and hoped people would respect our privacy. She had tagged the bakery.

Underneath, strangers were already calling me spoiled, dangerous, and ungrateful.

"She's building a story about me," I said.

Maya glanced over. "Save that too. Don't answer in anger."

Grandma reached for my hand. "She spent eleven days making sure everyone saw the version of you she wanted them to see."

Eleven days. Eleven holiday posts. Eleven photos of Corinne smiling beside a gingerbread display I'd built with my own hands.

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Then a new comment appeared beneath her video, written by someone named Eli Parker: Funny how the clip starts after she kicked the table.

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