Chapter 9 - THE SECOND ACCOUNT
Frank had met Lauren at a train station.
He apologized.
He told her Diane had forged his signature.
He offered to help her come home.
Lauren refused.
“She terrified me,” Lauren said.
“I was seven months pregnant and completely alone.”
Frank opened a private account in Noah’s name.
Not hush money.
A trust.
“He said Michael would eventually find it.”
Michael looked confused.
“I never did.”
Lauren nodded.
“Because after Frank died, the payments changed.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
Lauren explained that for five years, the money arrived from an account labeled FJC Trust.
Then suddenly it started arriving through Halston Development.
Rachel pulled up her files.
“When?”
Lauren gave the date.
Rachel went silent.
“What?” I asked.
“That was eleven days after Frank died.”
Michael stared at her.
“So Mom took over the payments.”
“Yes.”
“But why keep paying Lauren if Dad was trying to help Noah?”
Rachel looked at Diane’s financial records.
“Because the trust wasn’t just for support.”
Her fingers moved quickly over the keyboard.
She found an old corporate filing.
Then another.
Then she leaned back.
“Oh.”
I hated that sound.
“What?”
Rachel turned the screen.
“Frank placed twelve percent of Halston Development into a trust for Noah.”
Michael stared.
“Twelve percent?”
“According to this draft.”
“That would be worth millions.”
“Exactly.”
Lauren looked stunned.
“I never knew.”
Rachel continued searching.
“The final trust document is missing.”
Michael’s expression hardened.
“Mom destroyed it.”
“Maybe.”
Rachel zoomed in on the metadata from an archived scan.
“But someone tried to access it six months ago.”
I remembered the forged signature.
February 12.
“Same date?”
Rachel nodded.
Michael whispered, “Who?”
Rachel clicked.
A username appeared.
MCallahan.
Michael’s account.
He stared at it.
“I didn’t do that.”
Rachel looked at him carefully.
“Someone used your credentials.”
I immediately thought of Diane.
But Michael shook his head.
“My mother doesn’t know my current password.”
Lauren spoke quietly.
“She might not need to.”
We turned toward her.
“Why?”
Lauren looked at Michael.
“Because Diane told me years ago she had someone inside the company who would always protect her.”
Rachel’s phone buzzed.
A security alert.
She checked it.
Her face drained.
“What happened?” I asked.
She looked at Michael.
“Someone just tried to remotely delete the archive we copied.”
Michael stood.
“From where?”
Rachel refreshed the access log.
Then she stared at the location.
“Your house.”
I felt my stomach drop.
Emma was there with Michael’s cousin Melissa.
May you like
And Diane knew exactly where we lived.
*
