Chapter 12 - THE INHERITANCE
Jared and the others escaped through a rear exit.
They didn't stop until they reached the car.
No one spoke.
Finally, Jared asked Oscar:
"What inheritance?"
Oscar looked exhausted.
"I don't know what they're talking about."
"Did Mom leave me something?"
"I don't remember."
"How could you not remember?"
Oscar closed his eyes.
"Because Margaret told me to forget."
The answer silenced Jared.
Oscar explained that shortly before Margaret's death, she had asked him to sign several documents.
He never read them.
He trusted her.
One document concerned Jared.
Another concerned the company.
A third concerned their home.
Oscar had forgotten the rest.
Jared's lawyer located the documents the next day.
The inheritance wasn't money.
It was control.
Margaret had left Jared ownership of a trust that controlled a significant portion of Blake Industrial Solutions.
But the trust had been dormant.
Until now.
The eight thousand dollar monthly payments were not merely support.
They were part of a larger financial mechanism.
Jared realized something.
"Someone needed Dad's account active."
Beverly nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the account was being used to validate another chain of transactions."
Jared stared at the records.
His father's identity had become a financial key.
The money wasn't being stolen simply for profit.
It was being moved to make something else look legitimate.
"What?"
Beverly opened the final document.
"Ownership transfers."
Jared understood.
Someone had been using Oscar's account to establish a trail connecting the old company to new companies.
If the chain succeeded, someone could eventually claim ownership of the assets.
Jared looked at Lauren.
"Who benefits?"
She didn't answer.
Jared asked again.
"Who?"
Lauren whispered:
"Thomas."
Oscar shook his head.
"My brother wouldn't do this."
Lauren looked at him.
"You don't know your brother."
Jared received another message.
This time, there was a photograph.
Thomas standing outside the bank.
The message said:
Come alone.
Jared looked at the others.
"I have to go."
"No," Beverly said.
"He's my uncle."
"That's why you shouldn't go."
But Jared was already walking toward the door.
May you like
He didn't know that someone was waiting for him.
And he didn't know that the person waiting wasn't Thomas.
