Chapter 4 - THE MAN CLAIRE FEARED
Adrian Prescott entered the library as though it already belonged to him.
He wore a black morning coat.
A white rose rested against his lapel.
Every detail suggested a respected father escorting his daughter into a powerful marriage.
Claire’s letter suggested something else.
Lucas closed the distance between them.
“My wife named you before she died.”
Adrian’s expression remained composed.
“Claire was heavily medicated.”
“She became suspicious during her final illness.”
“She discovered transfers connected to your foundation.”
“Routine investments.”
“Then why did Vanessa lock Lily away to hide the letter?”
Adrian looked toward his daughter.
Vanessa said nothing.
For the first time, she looked younger than her expensive dress.
Not innocent.
Afraid.
Adrian’s attorneys moved closer.
Margaret raised her phone.
“This conversation is being recorded.”
One attorney objected.
Margaret answered:
“New York permits one-party consent.”
Adrian’s gaze hardened.
“This is a family emergency.”
“No,” Lucas said.
“This is potentially fraud and child abuse.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“You should consider your public position.”
“The governor’s office is represented downstairs.”
“Your investors are watching.”
“Bennett Medical cannot survive a scandal.”
Lucas looked toward Lily’s red wrist.
“Then it will survive honestly or not at all.”
Adrian stepped toward the desk.
“Give me the letter.”
Margaret covered it with her hand.
“No.”
“You have no authority here.”
“I am one of Lily’s trust protectors.”
Lucas turned sharply.
“One of what?”
Claire’s trust required three independent protectors to approve any guardianship transfer.
Margaret was the first.
Claire’s older sister, Caroline Hayes, was the second.
A retired judge named Daniel Mercer was the third.
All three had supposedly resigned.
Their resignation letters were inside Lucas’s corporate files.
Margaret produced the originals.
None had resigned.
Their signatures had been copied.
Adrian’s law firm prepared the replacements.
The proposed new protectors were Adrian, Vanessa, and a private psychiatrist named Dr. Stephen Ward.
The same doctor who had written a report calling Lily emotionally unstable.
Lucas had never met him.
Neither had Lily.
Adrian smiled faintly.
“You are making serious accusations without understanding estate administration.”
Margaret placed another file beside the letter.
It contained Dr. Ward’s invoice.
The Prescott Foundation had paid him four hundred thousand dollars.
The payment description read:
Family transition support.
Lucas turned toward Vanessa.
“You told me he evaluated Lily at school.”
“He reviewed reports.”
“What reports?”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
No answer came.
Lily spoke from beside the desk.
“She told me to draw angry pictures.”
“She said Daddy would believe I was sick if I didn’t behave.”
Lucas dropped to one knee.
“Did anyone ask you questions?”
“A man on the tablet.”
“What man?”
“He said Mommy dying made me dangerous.”
Margaret showed her a photograph of Dr. Ward.
Lily nodded.
“That’s him.”
The evaluation had happened without Lucas’s consent.
It had been designed to support residential placement after the wedding.
Adrian looked toward the door.
“Vanessa, we are leaving.”
Lucas blocked him.
“No one removes documents.”
“No one contacts staff.”
“And no one leaves until the police have been called.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You would call police on your wedding day?”
Lucas took out his phone.
May you like
“My daughter called for help on my wedding day.”
“That is the only invitation that matters now.”
