Chapter 8 - The First Lie Breaks
Warren brought Emily and Lily into the mansion.
Richard and Vanessa were ordered to remain in the library until the lawyers arrived.
Emily sat in the morning room where her mother once taught her to play the piano. Very little had changed. The same landscape paintings hung on the walls. The same blue porcelain bowl rested near the fireplace.
Yet the room felt like a carefully preserved place belonging to strangers.
Warren stood near the window.
Neither knew where to begin.
Finally, Emily handed him Lydia’s letter.
He read it twice.
“I never knew she wrote this.”
“She said you created the trust.”
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you contact me directly?”
“I tried.”
He opened a desk drawer and removed a key.
A cabinet beside the fireplace contained dozens of letters.
Every envelope was addressed to Emily.
Every one had been returned.
“I wrote each month during the first year,” Warren said. “Then every birthday. Richard said you refused to read them.”
Emily opened one.
Inside was a birthday card and a handwritten apology.
I should have protected your mother. I will not ask you to forgive me, but I hope one day you will allow me to explain.
Emily pressed the letter flat against her knee.
“I never saw this.”
Warren sat across from her.
“Richard told me you were living well from the trust.”
“I was working night shifts in a hotel.”
“He showed me photographs.”
“They weren’t me.”
“I know that now.”
The library doors opened.
Mara Quinn entered with Olivia Chen.
Mara had served as Warren’s family attorney for more than thirty years. She had been present when Emily was born and had helped Lydia prepare her first will.
Emily expected warmth.
Mara looked unable to meet her eyes.
Olivia placed several documents on the table.
“We have confirmed at least seven annual transfers into an account bearing Emily’s name,” she said. “The authorizations were processed through our firm.”
“Who approved them?” Warren asked.
Mara answered quietly.
“I did.”
Emily looked at her.
“You never verified my identity?”
“The documents came through Richard’s office with notarized signatures.”
“Notarized by whom?”
“A rotating group of independent notaries.”
Olivia turned a page.
“Three are deceased. Two deny notarizing the documents. One address belongs to an empty storefront.”
Warren’s hand closed around the arm of his chair.
“Where did the money go?”
“Most of it moved through Northbridge Consulting,” Olivia said. “Then to other entities.”
“Controlled by Richard?”
“We believe so.”
Mara finally looked at Emily.
“I failed you.”
“You did more than fail.”
Mara accepted the words without defending herself.
Olivia asked Emily whether she possessed any original documents.
Emily hesitated.
Then she showed them the red ledger.
Mara recognized it immediately.
“Lydia kept this.”
“Samuel Price had it.”
“Where is Samuel?”
“Missing.”
Olivia photographed the ledger pages.
One notation caught her attention.
A transfer code appeared beside Lydia’s initials.
“Do you recognize this?” she asked Mara.
Mara leaned closer.
Her face drained of color.
“That code belonged to a private evidence vault our firm closed eight years ago.”
“What was stored there?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were the managing partner.”
“I was told the vault contained old corporate records.”
“Who told you?”
Mara looked toward the closed library doors.
“Richard.”
Olivia checked the code against the firm’s archived database.
The vault had been accessed three times after its supposed closure.
The most recent access occurred the previous week.
The access card belonged to Mara.
“I did not enter that vault,” she said.
Olivia’s gaze sharpened.
“Then someone has been using your identity too.”
From the library came the sound of glass breaking.
Warren stood.
Before anyone reached the door, the mansion’s security alarm began to ring.
Marcus appeared in the hallway.
“Richard and Vanessa are gone.”
“How?” Warren demanded.
May you like
Marcus looked toward the service entrance.
“Someone opened the gates remotely.”
