Chapter 4 - The Hidden Safe
Earlier that exact same morning, while Sabina was busy terrorizing the catering staff on the patio, Callan had driven out to his late father's private, secluded hunting cabin near the lake.
Arthur had loved that cabin. It was his only refuge from Sabina’s suffocating high-society demands. Callan was there simply to box up some of his father's old fishing gear before putting the property up for sale to help pay for the upcoming medical bills, since his mother was aggressively withholding their trust funds.
While pulling a heavy box of tackle from the top shelf of the bedroom closet, Callan noticed a loose wooden panel at the back of the drywall.
Curious, Callan pried the wooden board away. Hidden entirely out of sight, bolted directly into the structural beams of the cabin, was a heavy iron wall safe.
Callan’s heart hammered against his ribs. He knew his father kept his most important business documents at his corporate office, not at a dusty lakeside cabin. Callan carefully entered his own birthday into the digital keypad.
The heavy iron door clicked and swung open.
The safe was entirely empty, except for a single, thick, sealed manila envelope resting on the bottom shelf. The envelope was heavily sealed with Arthur’s personal, distinct red wax crest. Written across the front in his father's bold, unmistakable handwriting were three words: For Callan. Alone.
Callan sat on the edge of the dusty bed and carefully broke the wax seal. He pulled out a thick stack of complex legal documents, heavily stamped by a federal notary.
As the thirty-eight-year-old man read through the pages, the color completely drained from his face. His father hadn't just left him a letter; he had left him an absolute, irrefutable legal weapon. Arthur had known exactly how vicious and controlling his wife truly was.
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Callan carefully folded the documents, slid them back into the envelope, and drove straight back to the baby shower, completely unaware of the violence unfolding on the patio.
👉 Read Part 5 to return to the horrifying climax in the backyard.
