My parents emailed me while I was abroad on a business trip: they’d sold my seaside villa to pay off my sister’s gambling debts and told me not to be selfish. I didn’t argue or reply. I simply called the police quietly… and they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Shortly after, my parents were stunned when the estate agent called.

I clenched my jaw. Ten thousand. A tidy amount, small enough to disappear quickly.

Hollis lowered his voice. “The police are here. Your mother is crying. Your father keeps calling you ungrateful.”

I swallowed my anger. “Put me on speaker.”

There was movement, and then my mother’s voice filled the line, thick with theatrical emotion.

“Maddie, thank God… tell them this is all a misunderstanding. We did it for Chloe. You have no idea.”