Chapter 4 - The Lawyer at Table Twelve
The man introduced himself as Jonathan Price.
Emily knew the name.
Price & Keller had handled her father’s business affairs before his death.
“What messages?” Emily asked.
Jonathan opened his portfolio. “Certified mail. Two emails. A courier package sent to your apartment.”
Emily frowned. “I never received anything.”
Claire said, “This is ridiculous.”
Jonathan looked at her. “Mrs. Whitmore, one of my letters was signed for by someone using your maiden name.”
Daniel slowly turned toward his wife.
Claire’s mouth tightened. “We lived in the same building then.”
“No,” Emily said.
Everyone looked at her.
Emily felt something click into place.
Two months earlier, Claire had asked for Emily’s spare apartment key because she claimed she needed somewhere quiet to store wedding favors.
Emily had laughed and given it to her.
Now she remembered coming home to find her mail stacked differently.
Her desk drawer half open.
Her father’s old watch moved.
She had assumed she was tired.
“You went through my apartment.”
Claire’s face hardened. “I was trying to protect the family.”
“From what?”
Jonathan laid a document on the vanity.
A deed.
The address was 1147 Harbor Point Road, a forty-acre waterfront property in Connecticut with an old Bennett family house, boathouse, and commercial marina rights.
Emily stared at it.
She had been there as a child.
Her father called it Harbor House.
Patricia had told her it was sold after his death.
Jonathan tapped the owner line.
The Bennett Legacy Trust.
Beneficiary and controlling trustee upon age thirty: Emily Rose Bennett.
Emily felt the blood drain from her face.
“I turned thirty last year.”
“Yes,” Jonathan said. “Your father structured it that way. Until then, your grandmother held limited administrative authority. At thirty, control transferred to you.”
Claire snapped, “It’s not worth what he thinks.”
Jonathan looked at her. “A developer offered eighteen million dollars last month.”
Silence.
Daniel sat down.
Emily looked at her mother.
“You told me it was sold.”
Patricia’s voice shook. “Your father made things complicated.”
“You lied.”
“I was trying to keep peace between you and your sister.”
Emily laughed once. “By hiding eighteen million dollars?”
“It isn’t about the money.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “It’s about what Claire planned to do with it.”
Claire whipped around. “Grandma.”
Evelyn opened her black clutch.
She removed a photocopy of a contract.
Jonathan’s eyes narrowed.
Emily read the heading.
OPTION TO PURCHASE – HARBOR POINT DEVELOPMENT GROUP.
The signature line at the bottom read:
Emily R. Bennett.
The signature was not hers.
Daniel stood so fast the chair hit the wall.
“Claire,” he said.
Claire backed away.
Emily stared at the forged signature.
Then at the woman wearing white.
Her sister.
Her blood.
Her best friend for half her childhood.
“Tell me you didn’t forge my name.”
May you like
Claire’s answer was barely a whisper.
“I needed the wedding paid for.”
