Chapter 7
I read Dad’s letter three times.
The words did not change.
Rachel was Jonathan’s daughter.
Mom had lied to all of us for twenty-eight years.
Henry sat across from me, his hands folded over the old briefcase.
“How long did Dad know?”
“Almost from the beginning.”
“And he stayed?”
“He loved you. He was afraid Diane would take you if he exposed the affair.”
“What about Rachel?”
“He raised her as his own.”
“Did she know?”
“I don’t believe so.”
I thought of Rachel inside the restaurant.
Her confidence.
Her fury when I called Mom.
Her message about the life I had stolen.
“Maybe she found out.”
Henry nodded slowly.
“Jonathan may have told her.”
“Why now?”
“Carter Development is about to be sold.”
I stared at him.
“No one told me.”
“The offer came last month. Your father’s shares make up fifty-one percent of the voting interest. As Chloe’s trustee, you must approve the sale.”
“How much are the shares worth?”
“Approximately twenty-six million dollars.”
The number made me dizzy.
I had believed the trust was worth less than three million because that was the value shown on its bank statements.
“The statements only show cash assets,” Henry explained. “The company shares are held separately.”
“Mom knew?”
“She suspected. Jonathan confirmed it after accessing old corporate records.”
“They weren’t trying to steal three million.”
“No.”
“They were trying to steal twenty-six.”
“And control the sale.”
I stood and paced the room.
Dad had left me a responsibility far larger than I understood.
Mom had turned Chloe into a target.
“Can they still get control?”
“Not while you remain trustee.”
“What if they remove me as her guardian?”
“A court could appoint another trustee if it found you unfit or guilty of mismanagement.”
“That was the plan.”
Henry nodded.
“Diane becomes guardian. Mason claims parental rights. Jonathan presents evidence that you endangered Chloe. The court removes you from the trust.”
“And they divide the money.”
“Likely.”
I looked through the small window in the door.
Grant stood in the hallway, speaking to Officer Hernandez.
“Why didn’t Dad tell me?”
“He wanted you and Rachel to remain sisters.”
“We were never truly sisters to her.”
“Blood does not decide that.”
“No. Choices do.”
Henry slid another document across the table.
It was an amendment to the trust.
“If anyone attempts to obtain control through fraud, coercion, or harm to Chloe, their claim is permanently barred.”
“Dad expected this.”
“He feared it.”
“Can the shares be sold without me?”
“No.”
My phone rang.
The call came from the county detention center.
Rachel.
I almost rejected it.
Then I thought of the letter.
I accepted.
“Olivia,” she said quickly. “You need to get me out.”
“Mom has been arrested.”
“What?”
“For drugging Chloe.”
Silence.
Then Rachel whispered, “She wasn’t supposed to admit that.”
“You knew.”
“It was a children’s sleep aid.”
“You put more in Chloe’s juice.”
“Only because she kept asking questions.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“She was trapped in a hot car.”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“You came back to the car.”
“I was going to move her.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Jonathan called. He said the cameras would make it look better if the car stayed there.”
I put the call on speaker and nodded to Henry.
He took out his phone and began recording.
“Better for what?” I asked.
“The case.”
“What case?”
“You know about the hearing.”
“I know you planned to steal Chloe.”
“I planned to save her from your miserable life.”
“My daughter was happy.”
“She had you.”
The bitterness in Rachel’s voice was so deep that it sounded almost calm.
“What does that mean?”
“You always got everything.”
“Rachel, Dad left you two hundred thousand dollars.”
“And left your daughter the company.”
So she knew.
“When did Jonathan tell you he was your father?”
Her breath caught.
Then she laughed.
“Dad told me himself.”
“Jonathan?”
“My real father.”
The words were sharp.
“Thomas raised you.”
“Thomas lied to me.”
“He protected you.”
“He used me to protect his reputation.”
“That is not true.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know he paid for college twice after you dropped out. I know he paid your rent. I know he sat beside you through rehab and never told anyone. I know he called you his daughter until the day he died.”
“And still gave everything to Chloe.”
“Because he knew Jonathan wanted the company.”
Rachel’s voice lowered.
“Jonathan deserves it.”
“He tried to plant drugs in my house.”
“That was your fault.”
I closed my eyes.
“How could that possibly be my fault?”
“If you had agreed to help me, none of this would have happened.”
“Help you do what?”
“Approve the sale. Give me my share.”
“It was not yours.”
“I am Diane’s daughter.”
“It was Dad’s company.”
“He only built it because Mom’s family gave him his first loan.”
“A loan he repaid.”
“She spent thirty years beside him.”
“And betrayed him for all thirty.”
Rachel sucked in a breath.
“So you know.”
“I found Dad’s letter.”
“Then you know why I deserve compensation.”
“For what?”
“For being raised by a man who looked at me every day and knew I wasn’t his.”
“He loved you.”
“He tolerated me.”
“That is Jonathan talking.”
“You always defend Thomas because you were his real daughter.”
“He was your real father in every way that mattered.”
Rachel’s voice cracked.
For one second, I heard the sister I remembered.
The little girl who crawled into my bed during thunderstorms.
The teenager who cried when her first boyfriend left.
The young woman who held Chloe after she was born and promised to protect her.
Then her anger returned.
“Get me out, and I’ll tell you everything.”
“No.”
“Jonathan will blame me.”
“He should blame himself.”
“You don’t understand him.”
“I understand what he did.”
“No, you don’t. He planned this before I knew anything.”
My heart beat faster.
“What did he plan?”
“The accident.”
“What accident?”
“Dad’s.”
Henry’s head snapped up.
Dad had died after his car went off a wet road outside Franklin.
Police called it an accident.
Mom said he had been tired.
Rachel whispered, “Jonathan was the last person who saw him alive.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because he’ll destroy me to save himself.”
“Did Mom know?”
Rachel began crying.
“I need protection.”
“You need to tell the police.”
“I’ll tell them if you help me.”
“You left Chloe to die.”
“I thought I had more time.”
“More time before what?”
“The garage wasn’t supposed to get that hot. Jonathan checked the forecast.”
The casual way she said it made me feel sick.
“He knew the risk.”
“He said she would sleep.”
“And if she didn’t wake up?”
Rachel said nothing.
I understood.
If Chloe died, Mason would become her legal heir.
The trust would pass through him unless Dad’s amendment stopped it.
Jonathan had built a plan that worked whether Chloe lived or died.
“Did Jonathan tell you to leave her there?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Did Mom know?”
“She knew we needed photographs. She didn’t know Jonathan said five hours.”
Henry wrote something on a legal pad and pushed it toward me.
Keep her talking.
“What happened to Dad?” I asked.
“I wasn’t there.”
“What did Jonathan tell you?”
“He said Dad found out he had been moving money through one of the company’s vendors.”
“Stealing?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
Henry closed his eyes.
“Dad was going to report him,” I said.
“Jonathan met him at a construction site. They argued. Dad drove away.”
“And?”
“Jonathan followed him.”
My voice shook.
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know. He said he only wanted to scare him.”
“Rachel.”
“I swear.”
“Where is the proof?”
“Mom has it.”
“What?”
“Dad recorded the argument. He sent the file to Mom before he left the site.”
“Why didn’t she give it to police?”
“Jonathan threatened to reveal everything. The affair. The stolen money. Who I was.”
“So she protected him.”
“Yes.”
“Where is the recording?”
“In Dad’s old watch.”
I remembered the silver watch Mom kept in a glass case in her bedroom.
She said it was the final gift Dad had given her.
“Is the recording still there?”
“I think so.”
“You were at Mom’s house this morning.”
“I couldn’t get into the safe.”
“What safe?”
“Behind Dad’s portrait.”
Henry wrote another note.
We need a warrant.
I nodded.
“Rachel, tell Officer Hernandez everything you told me.”
“Will you help me?”
“I will tell the truth.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“It’s all I have left for you.”
Her voice turned cold.
“Then maybe I don’t remember anything.”
The call ended.
Henry saved the recording.
I immediately found Hernandez.
He listened without interruption.
“We’ll seek a warrant for Diane’s house,” he said. “But it may take time.”
“Jonathan could have someone remove the watch.”
“He’s in custody.”
“He has employees. Friends. Another attorney.”
Grant stepped closer.
“There’s already someone at the house.”
He showed us a live feed on his tablet.
Months earlier, Mom had asked him to install temporary cameras so she could monitor a contractor.
He still had access.
A woman entered Mom’s bedroom.
I recognized her.
Lauren Pierce.
Jonathan’s wife.
She moved Dad’s portrait aside and opened the safe.
Officer Hernandez called units to Mom’s address.
On the screen, Lauren removed a silver watch and placed it in her purse.
Then she turned toward the camera.
For one terrifying second, it seemed she saw us.
May you like
She picked up a lamp.
The video went black.
