Chapter 14 - The People Behind the Trust
Inside the cabin, Daniel told Emma everything.
He had discovered the trust while reviewing documents after Margaret pressured him to sign an estate amendment.
That amendment would have granted the trustees temporary medical authority over any Hayes heir during childbirth.
Daniel refused.
Then Thomas contacted him.
Alive.
Thomas had spent nearly two decades hiding after staging his death.
“Why stage it?” Emma asked.
“Because the board turned on him.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Grandfather created the system, but Wren expanded it.”
Thomas originally arranged children for families.
Wren began treating genetics like a commodity.
Specific bloodlines.
Health traits.
Intelligence scores.
Family wealth.
The program grew.
Then modern DNA testing made everything dangerous.
Thomas disappeared.
But he kept records.
“Why did Thomas contact you now?”
“Because Wren selected Sophia.”
Emma held her stomach.
Daniel continued.
“Grandfather said Wren wanted to use her birth as the final transfer.”
“What does that mean?”
Ethan answered.
“The trust is worth much more than forty million.”
“How much?”
“Nearly nine hundred million.”
Emma stared.
Daniel nodded.
“The land is only part of it. There are private investment holdings, medical companies, real estate partnerships.”
Rachel sat near the fireplace.
“The board has spent decades hiding assets.”
Emma looked at her.
“How are you involved?”
Rachel took a breath.
“Wren contacted me six months ago.”
“Why?”
“He offered me money to reconnect with Daniel.”
Daniel looked disgusted.
“She came to me instead.”
Rachel continued.
“I pretended to cooperate so we could learn what they wanted.”
Emma remembered the photographs.
Secondary candidate.
“So you knew.”
Daniel nodded.
“I wanted to tell you. Thomas told me not to until we knew who was watching the house.”
Emma’s hurt was immediate.
“You lied to me for months.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“That sentence is becoming very popular in your family.”
Daniel looked down.
He deserved that.
Rachel continued.
“We learned the board planned to make Daniel disappear temporarily. They wanted Emma isolated with Margaret.”
Emma looked at Ethan.
“Then who killed Thomas?”
Ethan answered.
“Judge Mercer.”
Everyone went silent.
“Why?”
“Thomas recorded him moving trust money.”
Daniel placed a laptop on the table.
“Before he died, Grandfather gave me copies.”
Transactions filled the screen.
Millions transferred through hospitals, charities, and shell companies.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Mercer.
Another.
Wren.
Another shocked Emma.
Nathan Cole.
She stared.
“The detective?”
Daniel nodded.
Emma felt betrayed.
“Cole has been helping us.”
“No,” Ethan said. “Cole has been guiding the investigation.”
Emma understood.
Toward Margaret.
Toward Daniel.
Away from Wren.
“The second blood sample?”
Rachel lifted her bandaged arm.
“Cole took it himself after Wren’s people grabbed me. He put it in Daniel’s truck.”
Emma’s mind raced.
“The barn?”
“Cole knew about it.”
“The body?”
“Mercer killed Thomas there.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“I thought Ethan did it because Thomas warned me about the other son.”
Ethan nodded.
“And I thought Daniel did it because Black told me the Carter boy had become unstable.”
Emma stared at both men.
“Exactly what the board wanted.”
Daniel reached for her hand.
“We need federal investigators.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because one member of the board works inside the federal task force.”
Emma laughed once.
Hopelessly.
“Of course.”
Rachel handed Emma a file.
“We have one chance.”
Inside was a schedule.
Tomorrow.
6:00 a.m.
Millbrook Medical Center.
Emma’s induction appointment.
Wren expected her.
Daniel said, “We let him think the plan is still happening.”
Emma stared at him.
“You want me to walk into that hospital?”
“No.”
Ethan said, “Margaret goes.”
Everyone looked at him.
“She tells Wren she has Emma under control. She gets him to reveal the transfer protocol.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My mother won’t do it.”
Emma looked toward the window.
Maybe he was right.
Maybe Margaret was too frightened.
Too compromised.
Too loyal to the past.
Then Emma’s phone rang.
Margaret.
Emma answered.
Her mother-in-law’s voice shook.
“Emma?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
Margaret began crying.
“Is Daniel with you?”
Emma looked at him.
“Yes.”
Margaret sobbed.
Then her voice changed.
Steady.
“Tell Ethan I know who raised him.”
Ethan froze.
Emma put the phone on speaker.
Margaret continued.
“And tell Daniel I know how to get Wren into the laundry room.”
Daniel stared.
May you like
“Mom?”
Margaret said, “Come home.”
