Chapter 6 - The Trust
I played Elena's recording six times.
Each time, the final words hit harder.
She knows about the trust.
I knew of no trust.
My attorney, Daniel Reeve, arrived before sunrise.
"Elena created one?" I asked.
He looked uncomfortable.
"She discussed creating a separate trust for the girls."
"Discussed?"
"She completed it."
I stared at him.
"When?"
"Three weeks before she died."
"And you never told me?"
"She instructed me not to unless certain conditions were triggered."
"What conditions?"
"Her death before the girls turned five. Any attempt to remove you as guardian. Any medical finding inconsistent with her official cause of death."
My skin went cold.
Daniel opened a folder.
The trust contained Elena's personal inheritance, several properties, and voting shares in a medical logistics company her family had founded.
Total current value: nearly eighty million dollars.
The beneficiaries were Rosalyn and Camille.
Until they turned twenty-five, control rested with their legal guardian.
Me.
Unless I was declared unfit.
Calvin leaned forward.
"And if Graham is declared unfit?"
Daniel hesitated.
"The alternate guardian named in a later amendment is Hilda Dawson."
I stood so fast the chair fell over.
"I never approved that."
"You didn't have to. Elena's trust allowed her to nominate an alternate."
"Elena would never choose Hilda."
"I agree."
"Then the amendment is forged."
Daniel slid it toward me.
The signature looked like Elena's.
Too much like Elena's.
Mara stared at the date.
"That was the day Elena was admitted to Saint Catherine's."
"She couldn't have signed this?" I asked.
"She could barely hold a cup."
Calvin's phone rang.
He stepped away, listened, then turned back.
"Lab results on the girls."
My mouth went dry.
"Tell me."
"They found traces of a sedating medication not prescribed to either child."
Daniel went pale.
That was when every piece snapped into place.
Starve the girls.
Drug them.
Create photographs and reports proving I ignored their decline.
Then call authorities.
Daniel looked toward the window.
"If Hilda planned to make you look unfit, Graham..."
The front gates suddenly opened on the security monitor.
Three black government SUVs rolled up the drive.
Calvin checked the plate feed.
May you like
"Child Protective Services."
Mara whispered, "She called them."
