They Threw Us in the Snow. I Owned Everything. novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Litchfield Notes

The item ran at seven the next morning, and by eight my phone had stopped being mine.

It was on a society site that every woman in Litchfield County read before her coffee.

The headline said: BOOKKEEPER BUYS THE BANK, MOVES IN WITH HER HUSBAND'S BROTHER.

Under it was a photograph of the gatehouse, taken from the road, with the porch light on.

I read it standing in the lawyer's front office in my coat.

The item said I was still married and living with Colin's brother.

It said I had known about Pinegate for months and used it to take a family company so I could keep the brother.

It named no source, and it did not need to.

"That is only the first," the lawyer said, behind me. "There will be a second by noon."

"It's false."

"Some of it is true, Ms. Talcott. That is what makes it work."

I turned around.

He was holding a thin cream envelope with my name on the front in my grandmother's small upright hand.

"I was told to give you this on the sixth of January," he said. "Not before. She said you'd know why."

I opened it standing up.

It was one page.

"Laurel. By now you've found out, or he told you, and I'm sorry I did it this way. I wanted you to have a choice, and I knew you'd never take one if I explained it first. Do what you would do if you were nobody's granddaughter. I love you. Grandma Ruth."

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