#Chapter 79: Inheritance

Emily “Pull it together, Emily, it’s just a folder.” I scolded myself. The folder in question, that had been anonymously delivered, was thinner than I expected for something that might change everything. It felt alarmingly light. My fingers kept hovering over the seal, hesitation coiled low in my stomach like a warning: Don’t get your hopes up. I decided to heed my own lecture and opened it anyway. The first page was a property ledger. Estate Holdings – Revised 4th Quarter. The ink was faded but legible. A column of property sales, some marked in red, others with scribbled notations. And there, three parcels of land that should’ve never left my mother’s control. One sold under my father’s authority after my mother’s death. Two transferred quietly, without Pack approval, to a now-defunct ally. I scanned down. A familiar signature caught my eye. Not my father's. My grandfather’s. The original Alpha. Flipping the page, my heart picked up its pace. It was an old letter. Writte