Page 145 of Wicked Games

“Uncle Erik.” I stand so I can shake his offered hand.

“Sorry I couldn’t make it to the service. I unfortunately couldn’t cut my trip short.” He picks a manilla envelope off his desk and opens it. “Did you get the flowers my secretary sent?” he asks absently.

“I did, thank you. They were very nice.” I don’t remember what they looked like, or even that he sent flowers at all, but I’m not about to tell him that.

“I just have a few things for you to sign, and you can be on your way.” He pulls a stack of sheets out of the envelope and riffles through them. “Here.” He hands me the papers and pulls a gold pen out of his breast pocket. “Just sign everywhere that’s marked and initial where you see the red tabs.”

I take the pen and look at the top sheet.

“Where’s the rest of the document?” I ask, glancing up at him. “This is just the signature page.”

“I already went through everything, and it’s all in order,” he says dismissively. “Just sign your parts and everything will be taken care of.”

“I’m not signing anything without reading it,” I tell him and flip through the rest of the papers.

From what I can tell, there are three different documents he wants me to sign, but I only have the signature pages and a few pages with actual info on them that I need to initial.

“It’s just stating the terms of your trust,” he says. “There’s no new information in it.”

I scan one of the pages I’m supposed to initial. The information is incomplete, but it looks like there’s been an amendment to two of the clauses of my trust.

“What about the other ones?” I ask as I read the clauses.

I might be wrong, but it looks like he’s changed himself from the executor to a trustee, and he’s changed the terms for withdrawing funds so he no longer needs my grandfather’s signature to have funds released, only mine.

“Just more of the same,” he says. “One is a contract for the bank holding your assets, and the other is just a statement of your shares in the company.”

I flip to the next page and skim through the text. It is a bank contract, but from what I can tell, it gives the trustee of my accounts and what’s left of my dad’s estate full control over how it can be invested and removes the requisite for me to approve any changes.

“I’m between meetings,” he says when I flip to the last page. “I don’t mean to rush you, but I really don’t have time for you to dawdle right now.”

“I don’t think asking to know what I’m signing is the same as dawdling,” I point out as I read the page.

This one isn’t just a statement of my company shares; it looks like it’s part of a will.

Mywill.

There isn’t much info on the page, but I already have a will. Why the hell is there a new one in front of me?

“I’m sorry about your meetings, Uncle Erik, but I can’t sign any of these until I see the rest of the documents and read through them. My dad didn’t teach me much, but not signing anything I haven’t thoroughly read was one of the few lessons he made sure to pass on.”

He heaves a dramatic sigh and walks around his desk. “If you insist,” he says and tugs open one of the drawers.

My heart drops into my stomach when he doesn’t pull out papers but instead pulls out a gun.

“You should have just signed them.” He levels the gun at me. “Then you could have walked away.”

“Uncle Erik?” I ask stupidly. What the hell is happening?

“I tried to take care of you like I did my brother, but you can’t get good help these days.” He comes around the desk, the gun still pointed at my head.

“Wait, what? The accident…it wasn’t an accident?”

He grins, and the dead look in his eyes sends a shiver up my spine.

“You killed your own brother and his entire family?” I ask incredulously.

“Not his entire family,” he says, that sinister smile still on his lips. “You’re still alive. For now.”

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