Chapter 7 - THE INHERITANCE
Lucas thought he had misheard.
“Forty-eight million?”
Diane nodded.
“Rachel’s grandfather created a trust.”
Lucas shook his head.
“Rachel didn’t have that kind of money.”
“She didn’t personally.”
Diane explained that Rachel’s grandfather had built a pharmaceutical company decades earlier.
When he died, a large portion of shares had been placed into a generation-skipping trust.
Rachel could receive dividends.
She could not touch the principal.
Emma would gain control at eighteen.
Lucas stared at her.
“Why didn’t Rachel tell me?”
“She planned to.”
“When?”
“When she felt safe.”
Lucas looked down at the scorched box.
“And Vanessa knew.”
“Charles knew.”
Everything suddenly made sense.
Vanessa entering his life.
Her immediate warmth toward Emma.
Her obsession with wedding dates.
The pressure to combine finances.
Her insistence that Lucas update his estate plan.
He had mistaken strategy for love.
Lucas felt physically sick.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Lucas.”
Vanessa.
“Where are you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“I’m somewhere you’ll never find me.”
Lucas forced himself to stay calm.
“What do you want?”
“You humiliated me.”
“You locked Emma in a bathroom.”
“She was ruining everything.”
Lucas felt his hand tighten around the phone.
“How?”
“She remembered too much.”
“So you admit it.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“She shouldn’t have been at the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Because after we married, the paperwork became much easier.”
Lucas’s stomach dropped.
“What paperwork?”
“The guardianship documents.”
Lucas said nothing.
Vanessa continued.
“You were going to sign them.”
“I never saw guardianship documents.”
“You signed plenty of documents.”
Lucas remembered the prenuptial revisions.
The insurance changes.
Estate-planning packets Vanessa brought him.
He had signed pages his attorney had reviewed.
Or he believed his attorney had reviewed.
“You forged my signature.”
“Not exactly.”
Lucas looked toward Grace.
She was standing nearby.
He put the call on speaker.
Vanessa continued.
“You signed authorization giving me temporary parental authority.”
“For emergencies.”
“That language can be interpreted.”
“No judge would remove Emma from me.”
“Not while you’re alive.”
Silence.
Grace went pale.
Lucas’s voice dropped.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa laughed.
“Now you’re listening.”
Lucas walked toward the window.
“Where are you?”
“Goodbye, Lucas.”
The call ended.
Grace whispered, “She threatened you.”
Lucas immediately called police.
They began tracing the number.
Then an officer rushed into the room.
“Mr. Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“We found Ms. Cole’s car.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage, two blocks away.”
Lucas grabbed his jacket.
The officer raised a hand.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The vehicle was empty.”
Lucas stared.
“But we found blood in the trunk.”
Diane gasped.
Lucas’s mind went straight to Emma.
“Where’s my daughter?”
Grace pointed toward the adjoining room.
“I left her with two officers.”
Lucas ran.
The room was empty.
One officer lay unconscious beside the wall.
May you like
The window was open.
Emma was gone.
