Marcus looked terrible. He had lost weight. His expensive suit hung on him and his hands were shaking. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in a month. "Thank you for coming," he rasped, sitting across from her.

"What is this, Marcus? "It's my mother," he said, his eyes darting around.

"She's lost it. You took everything. Her name, her house, her power. She's been meeting with very bad people, not lawyers. People like like the ones I used to owe money to.

"What are you talking about?" She has a new will, he whispered, leaning in. She She found a new will. One that supersedes yours. It leaves everything to her.

It dated 2 days after yours was signed. Saraphina's blood ran cold. "It is a forgery." "Of course it is," Marcus hissed. But it's a perfect forgery.

She's found an expert. And she has a witness, a nurse from the hospital. She paid her off. She's going to claim Arthur signed it during a moment of lucidity just before he died after you'd left. She's going to file it tomorrow.

"It will not work," Saraphina said, though her heart was pounding. Finch has the video statement. He has the psych evaluations. You don't understand, Marcus said, grabbing her arm. Her new story isn't that you influenced him.

Her new story is that you murdered him. She's going to claim you found out about the new will and you overdosed his medication. She's paid a coroner to back it up. She's going to have his body exhumed. She's not trying to win a civil case, Saraphina.

She's trying to put you in prison for murder. Saraphina stared at him, horrified. This was a level of evil she hadn't anticipated. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "Why betray her?

Marcus looked down at his trembling hands. "Because she's using my contacts, the forger, the coroner. These are dangerous men.

When this is over, they're not just going to walk away. They'll own us. She's drowning us all." He looked up, his eyes desperate. "And she's going to use the pension fund money, the money I stole.

She found my offshore accounts. She's draining them to pay these people. She's ruining me." Saraphina almost laughed. It wasn't conscience.

It was self-preservation. He was still the same pathetic creature. "What do you want, Marcus? "A deal," he said. his voice regaining a fraction of its old confidence. I'll testify.

I'll tell the court the will is a forgery. I'll tell them everything she's planning.

I'll be your star witness "In exchange for what?" Immunity from the pension fund theft. You have that ledger. You give me the pages about me. You sign a document saying you won't pursue charges.

I save you. You save me. He was offering her a deal with the devil. If she refused, she faced a murder trial, a forged will, a bought off coroner. It was plausible.

A jury might believe it. Catherine Blackwell was the grieving widow. Saraphina was the nurse who'd mysteriously inherited a billion dollars. But if she accepted, she was letting him get away with stealing millions from his own employees. She would be just like Arthur, a coward choosing the easy way out.

I am David Hayes's daughter, she thought. "No, Marcus," she said, standing up. "What? Are you crazy? She'll destroy you."

"No, she won't," Saraphina said, her voice like ice. "You seem to have forgotten something. I have the ledger. I have the truth. You want to make a deal?

"Fine. But not here." She leaned down. "You will come to Alistair Finch's office tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. You will bring the forger's name, the coroner's name, and every piece of evidence you have on this new will. You will sign a full confession for your own crimes.

And in exchange, I will ask the DA to note your cooperation when I hand them the entire file. Maybe they'll give you 10 years instead of 20. That is the only deal you are getting." Marcus stared at her, his face ashen. He had been so sure she'd be terrified.

He had mistaken her quietness for weakness. It was the same mistake his entire family had made. "You would risk a murder trial," he whispered. "You'd risk prison to protect your mother?" she countered. "I will see you at 9:00 a.m.

She turned and walked away, her security detail falling in step around her. She was terrified, but she was also for the first time in complete control.

The next morning, Marcus didn't show up. 9:00 a.m. came and went. At 10:15 a.m., Alistair Finch entered his conference room where Saraphina had been waiting. "He is not coming," Saraphina said, her stomach sinking. "No," Finch said, his face grim. "He is not."

But Catherine is. She's filed the new will, and she's filed a petition for an emergency hearing and an order to exhume Arthur's body. The hearing is this afternoon. She's accusing you of first-degree murder.