Chapter 12 - Margaret’s Final Lie
“No,” Austin said.
The image had to be old.
Margaret was sixty-three.
The pregnant belly made no sense.
Then the woman stood.
It was not Margaret.
She removed the gray wig.
Pulled away prosthetic skin from her jaw.
A younger face appeared.
Carla.
Austin stared.
Quinn cursed softly.
“That’s a prerecorded feed.”
Crowe checked the registry.
“It was uploaded twelve minutes ago.”
Austin turned to Charles.
“Where is Carla really?”
“Quinn said protective custody.”
The detective was already calling.
No answer.
Her expression changed.
“My officer isn’t responding.”
Grant pulled out his phone.
Austin looked at the screen again.
Carla’s recorded image spoke.
“If you’re seeing this, Nathaniel lied to me.”
Crowe went pale.
Carla continued.
“He told me our baby could protect the family. Then he asked me to sign papers giving him custody authority if anything happened to me.”
Crowe leaned toward the camera.
“Carla…”
She could not hear him.
Recorded hours ago.
“I didn’t sign.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“But I found something in his apartment.”
She held up a medical file.
“My pregnancy isn’t eight weeks.”
Austin frowned.
Irene whispered, “What?”
Carla continued.
“I’m not pregnant.”
Silence.
Crowe stared at the floor.
Austin looked at him.
“You faked it?”
Crowe did not answer.
The recording continued.
“Nathaniel altered a blood test and showed me a sonogram that belonged to someone else.”
Carla laughed bitterly.
“I believed him because I wanted to.”
Austin’s anger became almost calm.
“Why create a fake competing heir?”
Crowe finally spoke.
“To delay certification.”
“Why?”
“Because your child’s claim is too strong.”
Irene stepped forward.
“Strong enough for what?”
“To terminate the custodial structure entirely.”
Charles looked shocked.
Crowe continued.
“If your child is born, the old trustee system dissolves.”
“And the assets?” Austin asked.
“Transfer into direct beneficial control.”
“To Irene?”
Crowe shook his head.
“To the child at adulthood, with Irene and Austin acting as guardians.”
Austin understood.
That destroyed everyone’s power.
Crowe’s.
Charles’s.
Margaret’s.
Any surviving trustee.
Irene looked at him.
“So the entire system has been fighting over my unborn baby.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are there two claims now?”
Crowe stared at the second registry entry.
“I didn’t create it.”
Charles went rigid.
“Someone else activated preserved material.”
Irene’s face tightened.
“Another embryo?”
“Possibly.”
Austin looked at Charles.
“You said no others existed.”
“I was told none did.”
“By whom?”
Charles answered.
“Evelyn.”
Irene stared at him.
“My mother lied to you.”
“Perhaps.”
The registry displayed a verification token.
Custodial laboratory authorization.
Crowe read it.
“That lab closed twenty-seven years ago.”
Quinn looked over his shoulder.
“Can records be spoofed?”
“Not this way.”
“Then someone maintained the original system.”
Charles whispered a name.
“Samuel Harrow.”
Irene turned.
“Who?”
“Evelyn’s older brother.”
“Alive?”
“He died before you were born.”
Crowe laughed softly.
“Apparently death in this family is flexible.”
Austin’s phone rang.
Carla.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
She was crying.
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“Police car stopped. Another car hit us. I woke up in a room.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Can you see anything?”
“Concrete walls. No windows.”
“Who has you?”
“I don’t know.”
A man’s voice sounded faintly in the background.
Carla gasped.
“Austin.”
“What?”
“He says Mom is here.”
Austin looked at Charles.
“Put him on.”
Carla’s phone moved.
A familiar woman’s voice came through.
Margaret.
“Austin.”
His jaw tightened.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who took you?”
Margaret laughed weakly.
“You still think I’m the villain.”
“You attacked my pregnant wife.”
“I was trying to find the ledger before they did.”
“Who?”
Margaret’s breathing quickened.
“The people your father never told you about.”
Charles stared.
Austin asked, “Who has you?”
Margaret whispered, “The original trustees never had four members.”
Everyone in the registry room went still.
“The photograph was a lie.”
“How many?”
“Five.”
Charles stepped closer.
“Margaret, don’t.”
She heard his voice.
Her tone changed.
“You finally came out of your grave.”
“Who is the fifth trustee?”
Margaret began to answer.
A gunshot exploded through the phone.
May you like
Carla screamed.
Then the call ended.
