The little girl begged for her dead mother’s teddy bear while her stepmother dragged her by the hair.

Her voice was soft, almost gentle. The kind of voice that would have made me open the door only days ago.

But I did not move. I stayed in the shadows, watching her through the thin curtain.

“Adrian, I know you’re in there,” Elena said again, stepping closer to the window. “I drove three hours to find you. I’ve been worried sick. Just open the door. Please.”

She sounded so reasonable. So concerned. If I hadn’t read Claire’s letter, if I hadn’t seen the forgeries with my own eyes, I would have believed her.

I stepped away from the window and spoke clearly through the wood.

“Go away, Elena.”

She went quiet for a moment. Then her tone shifted—still soft, but edged with something sharper.

“I can’t do that, Adrian. Not until we talk. Not until you listen to my side of everything.”

“There is nothing left to say. Claire left proof. We know about the forgeries. We know about the transfers. We know about Vanessa. We know everything.”

Elena was silent. I heard her breath catch. Then she gave a small, bitter laugh.

“Claire. Of course she did. She always had to have the last word. Even from the grave.”

“She knew what you were doing. She knew you would hurt Sophie to get what you wanted.”

“I never wanted to hurt Sophie!” Elena’s voice rose, losing its careful control. “I only wanted what was fair! Do you have any idea how unfair it all was? Everything always went to Claire. To you. To your perfect little family. While I… I had nothing. I worked hard. I tried. And still… nothing.”

“Stealing from a five-year-old child is not fairness, Elena. It is greed.”

“Fairness is me getting what I deserve!” She stepped up to the door again, her voice tight and urgent. “Now open this door, Adrian. We can still fix this. Together. We can say it was all a mistake. We can blame Vanessa. We can make it go away. Just… let me in. Let me see the proof. Let me handle it.”

“Claire told me you would say that. She told me you would try to take the proof and destroy it.”

Elena froze.

“Claire told you that?”

“She wrote it all down. She knew you would come. She knew you would never stop.”

Elena stood perfectly still in the moonlight. Slowly, the mask fell away. The gentle sister vanished. Her face hardened. Her eyes turned dark and cold.

“Then she was cleverer than I gave her credit for,” she said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous tone. “But she forgot one thing. She forgot that I am still here. And she is not.”