Chapter 12 - The Woman at the Door
The woman walked toward the house.
Lena stood frozen.
Susan began crying.
Robert got out of his car.
He looked exhausted.
Older.
Broken.
But when he saw the woman approaching, his expression changed completely.
Fear.
Real fear.
The woman entered the house.
She was thirty-one.
Tall.
Dark blonde hair.
The same gray-blue eyes Lena saw every morning in her own mirror.
Emily looked at Lena.
Neither spoke.
Then Emily smiled faintly.
“You look like Grandpa.”
Lena's eyes filled with tears.
“So do you.”
Emily nodded.
“I know.”
Susan moved toward her.
Emily stepped back.
“Don't.”
Susan stopped.
“I am sorry.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to find you.”
“You never did.”
“I was afraid.”
Emily looked at her.
“So was I.”
Robert entered the room.
Emily turned.
The entire atmosphere changed.
“You.”
Robert stopped.
Emily's voice was calm.
“You remember me.”
Robert didn't answer.
Lena looked at him.
“Dad?”
Robert's eyes stayed on Emily.
“You shouldn't have come back.”
Emily smiled.
“I know.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand everything.”
Robert looked at Lena.
“She is lying.”
Emily laughed softly.
“That's the first thing you taught her.”
Lena felt anger rise.
“What happened to her?”
Robert remained silent.
Emily answered.
“You want the short version?”
Lena nodded.
“Your father sent me away.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew about the accounts.”
Lena looked at Robert.
“You knew?”
Emily continued.
“I found records when I was sixteen.”
“What records?”
“Your grandfather's.”
Emily looked toward the box.
“I learned that Robert had been moving money for years.”
Robert shouted.
“Enough.”
Emily didn't flinch.
“You threatened me.”
“I was protecting the family.”
“You threatened me with a future you never intended to give me.”
Lena looked between them.
“What future?”
Emily turned to her.
“The second trust.”
Lena understood.
Emily had been the other beneficiary.
Robert had never been able to touch her portion.
So he had created another plan.
Make Lena responsible for the debt.
Force her to surrender her assets.
Then use her position to challenge the trust.
Emily looked at Lena.
“You were never the target.”
Lena frowned.
“What?”
“You were the door.”
Robert suddenly moved.
Daniel blocked him.
Robert shouted:
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
Emily looked at him.
“I know about the offshore account.”
Robert froze.
Lena turned.
“What offshore account?”
Emily pulled a folder from her bag.
She placed it on the table.
“There.”
Lena opened it.
Account numbers.
Transfer records.
Names.
Dates.
The money from Lena's original trust had not disappeared.
It had been moved.
It was still being held.
And the final beneficiary was not Robert.
Not Susan.
Not Mark.
Not even Lena.
Lena looked at Emily.
“Who?”
Emily's expression became serious.
“I don't know.”
Lena turned another page.
A company name appeared.
Hayes Family Holdings.
Richard looked at it.
His face went pale.
“That company doesn't exist.”
Emily looked at him.
“It exists.”
Daniel took the document.
“Where is it registered?”
Emily said:
“Under a name none of you have considered.”
Lena looked at the final page.
The beneficiary's name was partially obscured.
Only the initials were visible.
E.C.
Lena stared.
Emily stared too.
Then Robert whispered:
“No.”
Everyone turned toward him.
May you like
He looked terrified.
Because he knew exactly whose initials they were.
