Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO LEFT EVERYTHING BEHIND
The revelation changed everything.
If Margaret had legally controlled the company, then someone had been operating it in her name for years.
But why?
Jared contacted an attorney.
The old corporate records were retrieved.
The lawyer discovered something even stranger.
Margaret had created a private trust.
The trust was designed to remain hidden until Jared turned forty-five.
Jared was forty-two.
Three years remained.
"Why forty-five?" he asked.
The attorney didn't know.
But the trust contained a letter.
Jared opened it.
His mother's handwriting filled the page.
She wrote about money.
About fear.
About the company.
But most importantly, she wrote about a person she trusted.
She never named them.
Instead, she called them the Guardian.
The Guardian had protected Jared for decades.
Jared assumed Lauren was the Guardian.
Lauren denied it.
"No."
"Then who?"
"I don't know."
The attorney found another document.
A list of people authorized to access the trust.
Oscar.
Lauren.
And one person whose name had been redacted.
Beverly studied it.
"I might be able to identify the redacted name."
Jared looked at her.
"How?"
"The bank received a copy when the trust was created."
"Can you access it?"
Beverly hesitated.
"I shouldn't."
"But?"
"If someone has been stealing from your father for three years, I think we have bigger problems than procedure."
She searched.
The original document appeared.
The third name was revealed.
Jared stared.
It was his uncle.
Thomas Blake.
A man Jared hadn't spoken to in twenty years.
Thomas had left Chicago after a bitter argument with Oscar.
Everyone believed he had died in Arizona.
But the bank records showed something different.
Thomas Blake had opened an account six months earlier.
In Chicago.
Jared's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice said:
"You finally found me."
Jared froze.
"Thomas?"
The voice laughed softly.
"Your mother knew I would need to disappear."
"Where are you?"
"Closer than you think."
"Did you steal my father's money?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
A pause.
Thomas answered:
"Ask Lauren why she never told you about the night your mother died."
The call ended.
May you like
Jared turned slowly.
Lauren was crying.
