Chapter 7
I remembered the fundraiser.
Julian spilling champagne near my dress.
His embarrassed smile.
Our first conversation.
The flowers the next morning.
He had always called it fate.
Now it looked like recruitment.
“When did Eleanor work for Dad?” I asked Edward.
“Fifteen years ago.”
“What did she do?”
“Financial administration.”
“Why did she leave?”
“She was fired.”
“For stealing?”
“Your father suspected it.”
“Why wasn’t she prosecuted?”
“He couldn’t prove enough.”
Rebecca searched archived personnel files.
Eleanor Mercer.
Then Eleanor Hayes.
Then Eleanor Cross after another marriage.
Finally Eleanor West.
Julian’s mother.
Different surnames had hidden the connection.
My father had written one note in her file:
Do not rehire. Financial irregularities unresolved.
I stared at his handwriting.
“Dad knew.”
Edward nodded through the video call.
“He also suspected someone above Eleanor was directing her.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
The forensic team searched old transactions.
One pattern appeared repeatedly.
Properties sold below market value.
Then resold through shell companies.
Vance Development lost millions.
Someone else profited.
One beneficiary appeared three times.
Harrison Capital.
Rebecca looked familiar with the name.
“Robert Kane worked there before joining your board.”
Everything connected again.
Robert had not joined my company honestly.
He had entered after my father died.
Maybe to continue what Eleanor started.
“Did Julian know all of this?”
Detective Bell answered.
“We’re questioning him.”
Julian asked to speak directly to me.
I refused.
Then he sent a recorded statement through his attorney.
Rebecca played it.
“Amelia, I did know my mother worked for your father.”
I felt nothing.
“I didn’t know everything when we met.”
I laughed bitterly.
He continued.
“Mom told me your family destroyed hers.”
Of course she did.
“She said your father blamed her for money he lost himself.”
Rebecca paused the video.
“Do you want to continue?”
“Yes.”
Julian looked directly into the camera.
“I agreed to meet you because Mom wanted information.”
My heart hurt anyway.
“But then I fell in love with you.”
I almost turned it off.
“I married you because I loved you.”
“No,” I whispered.
“You married me after agreeing to spy on me.”
Then came the part that mattered.
“Robert told us there was money hidden outside the company.”
I frowned.
“What money?”
Julian continued.
“Your father created a private reserve before he died. Mom believed it belonged to her.”
Rebecca stopped the video.
“Do you know about any reserve?”
“No.”
My family trust held company shares and properties.
But no secret reserve.
Julian claimed Eleanor had spent years looking for it.
When she learned I was pregnant, she became obsessed.
“She said the child would activate something in the trust.”
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“What?”
We opened the trust agreement.
Hundreds of pages.
Buried inside was an old succession provision.
Upon birth of the first direct descendant of Amelia Vance, a dormant asset trust shall become active.
My hands began shaking.
Grace’s birth had triggered something.
Rebecca contacted the trustee.
An elderly attorney named Samuel Price.
He came to the hospital that evening carrying a sealed case.
“I promised your father I would give this to you only after you had a child.”
“What is it?”
“Control documents.”
“For what?”
Samuel looked at Grace.
“Your father’s private land portfolio.”
“How much is it worth?”
He paused.
“Approximately ninety million dollars.”
May you like
The forty-million-dollar company had never been the real prize.
Eleanor was hunting something more than twice its size.
