Part 2: My grandmother thought my student loans were paid off years ago, completely unaware that my father had been pocketing her monthly payments while leaving me in debt.

Grandma turned on her heel and walked out the door. I didn't say another word to my father. I looked at Linda, whose face was streaked with silent tears of shame, and then I followed Grandma out into the cold afternoon air.

As we reached my car, Dad came barreling out the front door, standing on the porch. "You won't get a dime, Halley!" he yelled across the lawn, his voice echoing through the quiet suburban neighborhood. "That money is gone! You hear me? Gone! Take me to court! See what a lawyer costs you!"

I got into the driver’s seat, locked the doors, and drove away without looking back in the rearview mirror. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely keep the car in the lane.

"Grandma," I choked out, wiping tears from my cheeks. "Is it true? About the trust? Does he get the farm?"

Grandma reached over and placed her warm, weathered hand over my trembling fingers. "Your grandfather was a quiet man, Halley. But he was never a fool. Pull over at the diner parking lot. We need to talk."

I pulled into the gravel lot of the diner, parking under the shade of an old willow tree. Grandma reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, tarnished silver key that hung from a leather strap around her neck.

"Elwood started noticing things back in 2021," Grandma said softly, staring out through the windshield. "Small things. Richard was suddenly spending money he didn't have. He stopped coming by the farm unless he needed something. And every time Elwood asked him if you were doing alright with your finances, Richard would change the subject or make a snide comment about how you never called."

"Grandpa thought I was ignoring him," I sobbed, the guilt crushing my chest like a physical weight. "He died thinking I didn't care."

"No, darling. Listen to me," Grandma insisted, turning my face toward hers. "Elwood loved you too much to believe that forever. About six months before he passed, he went into town by himself. He didn't tell Richard. He didn't even tell me until weeks later. He went to see Arthur Vance—his second cousin and our family lawyer."

She held up the silver key.

"There is a second lockbox, Halley. Not in the desk. In the floorboards beneath the grain bins in the old red barn. Elwood told me, *'Evelyn, if the day ever comes where Richard proves he has no heart, you take this key to Arthur, and you open the red trunk.'*"

A shiver ran down my spine. "Grandpa knew?"

"He suspected," Grandma corrected. "He prayed he was wrong. He prayed his only son wouldn't be so wretched. But Elwood always prepared for a drought, Halley. And right now, Richard is about to experience the driest season of his life."