My hands trembled as I pulled it out. Written on the front in bold, black marker was a single word: PROPOSAL.
I opened it, and my breath hitched. It was all there.
The first document was a Quitclaim Deed. It legally transferred 100% of the ownership of our property from “Bruno and Valerie Miller” to “The C&B Legacy Trust”—a trust where the sole beneficiaries were listed as Bruno Miller and Chloe Vance.
The second document was even worse. It was a pre-drafted divorce petition, citing “irreconcilable differences” and “emotional instability and financial misconduct on the part of the wife.” Appended to the back were printed photographs of me—taken covertly through the windows of our own home—holding the cash envelopes, scrubbing the floors, and placing the money under the bed. There were log sheets detailing the dates and times I had “stolen” the cleaning money.
But it was the third document that made my blood run entirely cold.
It was a life insurance policy. A new one, taken out just two months ago in my name. The policy amount was two million dollars. The beneficiary? Bruno Miller. And attached to the policy application was a forged medical assessment stating that I suffered from a severe, undiagnosed chronic heart condition that put me at high risk for sudden cardiac arrest.
He wasn’t just planning to divorce me and take my house.
He was planning for me to die.
A sudden chill swept through the room. The lavender bleach on my hands suddenly smelled like a funeral home. The “accidental bleeding scare” I had experienced during my pregnancy years ago—the one that resulted in a miscarriage—flashed through my mind. Bruno had been the one who made my tea that night. He had been the one who insisted I stay home instead of going to the hospital right away.
He’s been trying to get rid of me for years.
