Chapter 3 - The Trust Nobody Told Him About
Ben did not panic.
That made Daniel more nervous.
He stood, walked to the mudroom, and removed a locked case from a cabinet.
Daniel watched him enter a code.
Inside was a handgun.
“You expecting trouble?”
“No.”
“Then why do you have that?”
“I spent fifteen years making wealthy criminals unhappy.”
Fair point.
Ben checked the security feeds.
The SUV remained stationary.
Emily was still at the island.
Daniel forced his voice to remain calm.
“Sweetheart, Uncle Ben has a guest room upstairs. Why don’t you take Rosie and pick which pillow you want?”
Emily looked toward the monitor.
“Is Grandma coming?”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“No.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Ben’s expression shifted at the word.
Emily took Rosie and climbed the stairs.
When she disappeared, Ben turned.
“You shouldn’t promise things you can’t control.”
“She’s six.”
“And the people watching this house may have moved twenty-eight million dollars through her name.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“What kind of trust?”
Ben returned to the laptop.
“Established three months before your father died.”
Daniel froze.
“Dad created it?”
“That’s what the documents say.”
“Why would he put Emily’s name on a trust before she was born?”
Ben looked at him.
Daniel understood immediately.
“Because he didn’t.”
“Exactly.”
Rachel was not even pregnant when Samuel died.
Someone had backdated the trust.
Ben opened the underlying documents.
“The trust initially lists ‘future lawful issue of Daniel Carter.’ Emily’s name was added after birth.”
Daniel read the next line.
Trustee: Eleanor Carter.
Successor Trustee: Sophia Carter.
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“There’s more.”
Ben displayed a series of property transfers.
Warehouses in Bridgeport.
Commercial land in New Haven.
A marina.
Two apartment complexes.
Daniel recognized all of them.
“They belonged to Dad.”
“Now they belong to entities controlled by Emily’s trust.”
“That means Mom gave property to Emily?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
Ben folded his arms.
“That’s the twenty-eight-million-dollar question.”
Daniel looked again.
The assets were valuable.
Extremely valuable.
If Eleanor wanted to control money, why place it in a trust for Emily?
Unless the trust was never meant for Emily.
Unless Emily’s identity was being used as camouflage.
Ben clicked through more filings.
“Here.”
A loan agreement.
Falcon Ridge borrowed twelve million dollars against one of the properties.
The borrower authorization carried Daniel’s forged signature.
The funds disappeared into overseas accounts.
Daniel’s anger rose.
“So they made me look responsible.”
“Yes.”
“And if anyone investigated?”
“You would appear to be the controlling owner approving the transactions.”
Daniel thought about Eleanor’s words.
You were supposed to stay poor.
If Daniel accumulated resources, lawyers, independence, he might investigate.
Keeping him financially desperate kept him manageable.
His phone rang again.
Unknown number.
Ben nodded for him to answer on speaker.
Daniel did.
“Sophia?”
A man replied.
“No.”
Daniel’s entire body went still.
The voice was cultured, older, calm.
“Who is this?”
“You have something that does not belong to you.”
“The recorder?”
“The copy.”
“I don’t have it.”
A pause.
“Your sister believes you can protect her.”
Daniel looked at Ben.
“Can I?”
The man chuckled.
“Not from what she helped build.”
“Are you Vale?”
“That name is sufficient.”
“What do you want?”
“Forget Falcon Ridge.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“So you are watching us.”
“No.”
“Then how do you know where I am?”
The man ignored the question.
“Your mother made certain choices after Samuel died.”
Daniel tightened his grip on the phone.
“My father knew you?”
“Very well.”
“What did you do to him?”
Silence.
Daniel’s throat constricted.
“What did you do to my father?”
Vale answered calmly.
“You are asking the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“What did your father do to us?”
The call ended.
Ben immediately started typing.
“Can you trace it?”
“No. But I recorded it.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Us.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘What did your father do to us.’”
Ben nodded.
“That matters.”
“Why?”
“Because Vale isn’t working alone.”
Daniel paced.
“Maybe Dad uncovered Falcon Ridge.”
“Maybe.”
“And they killed him.”
“Possible.”
“You think the boating accident wasn’t an accident.”
“I think we don’t know enough.”
Daniel slammed his palm on the table.
“I spent twelve years believing he died because he went sailing during a storm.”
Ben studied him.
“Did your father sail alone often?”
“Yes.”
“In storms?”
Daniel stopped.
“No.”
Ben closed the laptop.
“We need the police report.”
“I have a copy at home.”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“We’re not going to your apartment.”
“My father’s files are there.”
“And someone is outside my house right now.”
Daniel looked at the monitor.
The SUV had moved.
It was coming up the driveway.
Ben reached for the gun.
Daniel hurried to the stairs.
“Emily.”
Before he could call again, headlights swept across the kitchen.
A vehicle stopped outside.
The driver’s door opened.
A woman stepped out with both hands raised.
Daniel stared.
Sophia.
May you like
She had blood running down the side of her face.
And in one hand she held a silver flash drive.
