Chapter 1: The Inheritance of Blood

For six long months, my life had been reduced to a suffocating mix of grief and endless legal procedures. My mother, Clara Vance—a woman who spent forty exhausting years working double shifts as an ER nurse—had passed away suddenly from a devastating stroke. I was her only child.

After she died, my husband of five years, Ethan, was almost entirely absent. He offered empty sympathy and shallow excuses, never once helping me sort through her home, meet with lawyers, or arrange the funeral. While I was drowning in loss, he chose golf outings and weekend trips with his brother instead.